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ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


A  D  V  E  N  T  U  R  iE  S 
IN      BOLIVIA 

By    C.     H.     P  RODGER  S    ::::    :: 

WITH     AN     INTRODUCTION     BY 

R.  B.  CUNNINGHAME  GRAHAM 

ILLUSTRATED  FROM  THE  AUTHOR'S 
ORIGINAL  SKETCHES  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1923 


^cu^f.n^  A^^-^-<^ 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by  Ebenezer  Baylis  <S-  Son,  Trinity  Works,  WorceMter. 


PREFACE 

TO  RIDERS   IN  HIGH   (aND  LOWER)  ALTITUDES 

This  book,  that  exudes  sincerity,  just  as  a  pine 
tree  drops  its  rosin,  serves  a  double  purpose.  It 
reveals  a  curious  personality  that  might  have 
stepped  straight  from  the  pages  of  Purchas  or  of 
Hakluyt,  and  at  the  same  time,  all  unknown  to 
the  writer,  helps  to  dispel  some  of  the  mist  of 
ignorance  and  prejudice  that  for  so  long  has  hung 
over  the  lives  and  actions  of  the  Spanish  Con- 
querors. 

Judged  by  an  alien  Tribunal,  brought  before  the 
bar  of  an  opinion  adverse  to  them  by  religion,  race 
and  interest,  they  have  been  vilified  before  the 
world  with  scarce  a  word  raised  in  their  defence. 
To-day  their  exploits  are  judged  upon  their  merits. 
The  ancient  jealousy,  that  gave  Gondomar  the 
right  to  brand  even  the  great  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 


vi  PREFACE 

with  the  stigma  of  ^'  Pirata,"  has  long  died  down. 
We  know  that  our  own  withers  are  not  quite  un- 
erring. Thus,  by  degrees  and  in  the  hard  school 
of  experience,  we  are  learning  not  to  condemn  men 
who  acted  by  the  standards  of  their  age  by  our 
own  code.  Take  both  codes  away,  and  drop  me  an 
impartial  judge  down  from  the  moon,  he  might  not 
find  much  real  difference  between  the  Spaniards  of 
the  age  of  Charles  V  and  ourselves,  the  sons  of 
progress  and  of  light.  Still,  there  are  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort,  your  piffling  traveller  with  his  bad  jokes, 
contempt  of  anything  not  forged  upon  his  Peck- 
ham  anvil,  or  registered  so  many  degrees  north, 
east  or  west  from  the  meridian  of  Balham,  with 
cliches  from  old  books  as  if  the  course  of  time 
changed  nothing,  and  no  fresh  matter  ever  came  to 
light,  to  tell  us  all  the  Spanish  conquerors  were 
cruel  rogues  and  thieves.  He  lets  us  know  that  in 
their  thirst  for  gold  and  zeal  for  their  damned 
Papism,  they  exterminated  all  the  Indians,  leaving 
not  one  alive.  He  is  read,  commented  on  and  re- 
viewed by  men  as  ignorant  and  prejudiced  as  he 
himself,  and  so  the  ball  rolls  on,  ever  increasing 
like  a  mass  of  snow  set  trundling  down  a  slope. 
To  read  or  listen  to  such  antiquated  bombast  one 


PREFACE  vii 

would  think  that  kindly  well-disposed  and  Christian 
men  meticulous  in  all  their  dealings  with  the 
Indians,  such  as  were  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa  and 
Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  had  never  lived  and 
striven  to  do  good.  Of  the  great  Las  Casas  and  the 
innumerable  Jesuits  and  Franciscans,  who  gave 
their  lives  so  freely  for  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians,  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak. 

This  little  book  comes  as  an  antidote  to  all  this 
poison  gas. 

Written  in  the  language  that  men  speak  Vound 
the  camp  fire,  with  rifles  ready  to  the  hand,  with 
ears  attuned  to  catch  the  slightest  rustle  in  the 
grass  and  eyes  always  a-watch  upon  the  horses 
where  they  feed  close  at  hand,  hobbled  or  picketed, 
it  lets  fresh  air  in  on  the  question.  The  writer  tells 
us,  bluntly  and  in  the  way  a  sailor  writes  his  log 
book,  quite  without  comment,  but  with  circum- 
stance, that  he  slept  in  an  Ancient  Inca  Temple  on 
some  pass  or  other  of  an  altitude  of  17,000  feet  and 
with  a  temperature  of  8°  below.  He  lifts  unwit- 
tingly the  corner  of  a  page  that  Protestant  his- 
torians  have  always  kept  dog's-eared.  He  jots 
down  at  haphazard  that  he  bought  a  llama,  some 
frozen  potatoes,  or  the  carcass  of  a  sheep,  from  the 


vui  PREFACE 

owner  of  the  hut,  who  was  an  Indian.  Then 
further  on  he  comes  upon  a  band  of  Indians  driv- 
ing llamas;  stops  in  another  Indian  hut,  and  by 
degrees  it  dawns  upon  us  that  his  whole  journey 
from  the  time  he  left  La  Paz  was  amongst  Indians. 
One  miUion  Indians,  as  he  tells  us,  are  settled  in 
the  republic  on  the  same  lands  that  their  fore- 
fathers owned,  under  their  Inca  princes  when  the 
Pizarro  brothers  burst  on  their  Arcady.  Besides 
this  million,  that  apparently  has  fluctuated  little 
since  the  conquest,  still  in  the  forests  of  the 
Tipuani  and  the  Beni,  that  Beni  of  whose  wonders 
I  had  heard  so  much  from  my  friend,  Colonel  Don 
Pedro  Suarez,  there  still  roam,  free,  naked  and  un- 
ashamed, for  shame  was  brought  into  the  world 
under  a  dispensation  they  had  no  share  in,  three 
hundred  thousand  of  these  autochthones. 

How  the  author  came  to  set  out  on  the  strange, 
romantic  quest,  to  reach  a  lone  community  of 
Indians,  on  the  Tipuani,  living  far  from  the  world, 
in  curious  huts  much  as  I  have  seen  in  remote 
capillas  in  Paraguay,  and  well  depicted  by  the 
author  in  a  not  ineffective,  neo- Japanese  style  of 
art,  is  most  curious.  Established  as  he  was  with  a 
large  racing  stable,  somewhere  in  Chile,  an  occu- 


PREFACE  ix 

pation  as  one  would  suppose  as  little  likely  as  any 
in  the  world  to  furnish  an  explorer,  for  diplomats 
and  race-horse  trainers  are  perhaps  the  men  above 
all  others  wrapped  in  conservatism  and  bound  in 
prejudice. 

Still,  somewhere  in  his  being  he  must  have  had 
the  true  Elizabethan  spirit  that  makes  a  man  sell 
his  own  land  to  visit  that  of  other  people,  for  with- 
out preface  he  informs  us  that  in  July  1913  he  was 
engaged  by  the  Challana  and  Tongo  Rubber  Com- 
pany to  go  and  find  out  if  the  Indians  on  the 
Challana  river  would  tap  rubber  for  them.  The 
proposition  seemed  a  tough  one,  as  he  might  have 
said  himself.  (The  Indians,  knowing  that  to  allow 
white  people  to  settle  in  their  territory  must  be  the 
ruin  of  their  race,  had  set  strict  guards  upon  the 
passes  of  the  river.   | 

Twice  or  three  times  they  had  defeated  expe- 
ditions sent  against  them,  and  were  now  all  well 
armed,  having  supplied  themselves  through  the 
good  offices  of  a  Bolivian  officer,  one  Captain 
Villarde,  who  had  originally  been  sent  against  them 
from  La  Paz.  Captain  Villarde,  and  one  Sanchez, 
had  thrown  their  lot  in  with  the  Indians  and  lived 
half  in  the  capacity  of  traders,  half  as  military 


X  PREFACE 

advisers,  in  Paroma,  the  mysterious  Indian  capital, 
a  town  that  no  one  single  white  man  had  ever  seen 
except  themselves. 

Like  a  good  trainer,  the  first  thing  was  to  see 
about  his  weight.  As  he  weighed  two  hundred  and 
sixty-five  pounds  (avoirdupois)  one  might  be 
pardoned  in  supposing  that  as  De  Quincey  said 
about  the  Poet  Coleridge,  he  was  a  little  stout  for 
active  virtue.  Nothing  more  false.  Had  he 
weighed  twice  as  much,  it  would  have  been  the 
same. 

Three  weeks  of  hot  baths  reduced  his  weight 
by  thirty  pounds,  and  he  was  ready  for  the  road. 
Every  one  having  advised  him  against  going 
to  Paroma,  telling  him  as  they  told  Columbus,  and 
have  told  everybody  since  the  beginning  of  the  world 
who  wanted  to  go  anywhere,  that  the  journey  was 
impossible,  he  thought  of  what  he  ought  to  have 
hit  upon  at  once,  seeing  he  was  a  race-horse  trainer. 
Near  to  Sorata,  a  little  town  close  to  Lake  Titicaca, 
there  dwelt  '^  un  matrimonio  "  as  they  would 
call  it  in  Bolivia,  of  the  name  of  Gunther.  Next 
door  there  lived  a  lady,  one  Senora  Villavicencia, 
sister  to  the  Villardes,  who  had  become,  either  by 
adoption  or  by  grace,  a  personage   amongst  the 


PREFACE  xi 

Indians.  The  writer,  most  likely  as  the  old 
Scottish  story  goes,  either  by  sophistry  or  know- 
ledge of  the  gospel,  got  the  soft  side  of  her.  How 
many  times  he  must  have  slipped  the  "  Tapiijo  " 
over  the  eyes  of  a  wild  mule,  an  operation  that, 
experto  crede,  has  its  difficulties,  and  yet  gives  one 
experience  with  other  animals.  This  lady,  having 
marked,  heard  and  inwardly  digested  all  that  the 
writer  had  to  say,  was  pleased  to  send  a  letter,  by 
an  Indian  runner,  to  her  brother  at  Paroma,  thus 
opening  an  Eden,  making  this  book  possible, 
and  incidentally  removing  from  her  sex  the  slur 
that  Eve  cast  on  it  when  she  was  instrumental  in 
setting  up  the  board  in  that  fair  garden  by  the 
Tigris,  with  "  To  let  "  inscribed  upon  it.  Riding 
a  stout  mide,  and  with  his  old  chestnut  hurdle  racer 
to  serve  as  bell  mare,  and  well  supplied  with  rum 
and  whisky,  steriHzed  milk,  two  or  three  horn 
lanterns,  Liebig's  extract,  a  nail  extractor,  and 
other  trifles  useful  on  the  road,  though  as  a  liberal 
minded  man  he  does  not  dogmatize  upon  a  travel- 
ler's needs,  for  in  a  qualifying  clause  he  says,  '*  any- 
thing else  you  think  you  need,"  the  writer  set  out 
towards  his  Eden  in  the  wilderness. 

Much  did  he  see  and  much  set  down,  as  when  he 


xii  PREFACE 

stayed  with  the  headman  of  Tiqiiiripaga,  himself 
an  Aymara.  This  worthy,  called  Manuel,  was 
wedlocked  to  two  wives,  one  of  them  not  bad-look- 
ing, who  took  good  care  of  the  writer  during  his 
sojourn  in  the  place. 

Little  by  little,  passing  along  the  edge  of  preci- 
pices ;  swung  over  torrents  on  a  rope,  and  witness- 
ing the  wondrous  change  of  fauna,  flora,  sky  and 
temperature,  that  riders  from  the  high  Andes  see 
slip  beside  them  in  a  day's  ride  toward  the  Tropics, 
the  writer  gradually  advanced  towards  the  un- 
known. 

He  saw  (he  tells  us  so)  the  Alpine  flora  slowly 
give  way  to  palms  and  tree-ferns,  begonias,  white 
and  purple  creepers,  orchids  and  parasites  spring 
from  the  distorted  trunks  of  Ceibas  and  of  Bongos, 
and  butterflies,  light  and  dark  blue,  purple  and 
yellow,  flying  about  in  flocks.  Parrots  darted  high 
above  his  head,  chattering  and  shrieking,  and 
flights  of  green  and  red  macaws  glided  like  hawks 
about  the  clearings  of  the  woods.  All  this  he  saw 
and  must  have  smelt  the  dank  and  spicy  odour  ris- 
ing from  the  masses  of  decaying  vegetation, 
seen  the  snakes  hanging  from  the  trees,  and  heard 
the  monkeys  howling,  sights,  sounds  and  odours 


PREFACE  xiii 

that  always  make  me  feel  as  if  I  was  returning 
home  during  such  kind  of  rides.  At  last  he  reached 
the  Tipuani  and  camped  upon  its  banks,  being 
well  received  by  one  Noboa,  an  ex-slave,  and 
startled,  though  he  should  not  have  been  so,  by 
the  apparition  of  a  tall  sun-burned  man,  stricken 
with  fever,  who  introduced  himself  by  the  name 
of  Mackenzie,  and  formed  of  course  a  unit  of 
the  all  conquering  legions  that  Scotland  sends  out 
to  subdue  the  world.  Long  did  he  wait  in  Tipuani 
for  news  from  the  mysterious  Indian  capital,  for, 
though  he  was  only  a  few  days'  journey  from  it, 
the  frontiers  were  so  strictly  guarded  that  a  way- 
faring man,  even  although  endowed  with  average 
intelligence,  could  just  as  easily  expect  to  enter 
heaven  without  a  passport.  So  in  Tipuani  he 
waited,  shooting  occasionally  a  man-eating  jaguar, 
bathing,  drinking  new  rum,  and  no  doubt  mightily 
refreshed  by  the  conversation  of  Mackenzie,  the 
young  Spaniard,  Perez,  who  had  left  the  military 
school  in  Madrid  on  a  '*  paseo  "  to  the  Tipuani  and 
had  been  fever  stayed  for  years,  and  the  com- 
panionship of  other  waifs  and  strays,  whose  talk  is 
always  interesting,  as  it  runs  wholly  on  themselves 
and  things  that  they  have  seen,  and  in  such  places 


XIV  PREFACE 

as  Tipuani  these  kind  of  men  are  sure  to  congre- 
gate. When  the  long  wished  for  order  to  proceed 
arrived  at  last,  in  three  days'  march  he  reached 
Paroma,  a  village  set,  like  some  cities  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, high  upon  a  hill.  A  river  ran  through  it 
and  huts  were  scattered  here  and  there,  midst 
clumps  of  palm  trees.  The  view  extended  over 
miles.  Right  in  the  middle  stood  the  Court 
House,  a  "  long  high  shed  of  poles  and  palm 
leaves,"  and  not  far  off  the  church,  neat,  swept  and 
garnished,  although  there  was  no  priest,  nor  had 
been  for  a  long  while.  Captain  Villarde  received 
the  writer  well,  though  with  anxiety,  for  it 
appeared  the  Indians  thought  he  was  a  spy. 

Early  next  morning  the  tryst  was  set  within 
the  Court  House,  and  on  raised  seats  sat 
Captain  Villarde,  the  two  Fernandez,  Portugol, 
and  "  old  man  Jones,"  who  had  lived  forty  years 
amongst  the  Indians,  and  forgotten  EngHsh. 
Three  hundred  Indians  thronged  the  Court  House, 
and  the  situation  was  so  critical  that  Villarde 
advised  the  author  to  get  up  and  speak  to 
them.  He  did  so  for  two  stricken  hours  in  the 
most  choice  Castilian  that  he  had  at  his  command. 
The  result  was  magical,  for,  curious  to  say,  the 


PREFACE  XV 

speech  convinced  his  hearers,  a  thing  that  possibly 
has  never  happened  in  a  Christian  parhament. 

All  was  plain  sailing  and,  his  business  finished  in 
Paroma,  nothing  remained  for  him  but  to  get  upon 
his  mule  and  strike  the  homeward  trail. 

Well,  well,  he  had  a  glorious  journey,  and  one 
that  in  the  days  when  joints  grow  stiff  and  mules 
impossible  to  mount  will  still  console  him  for  all  he 
underwent. 

I,  having  read  the  book,  am  glad  of  his  success ; 
but  hope  when  he  is  asked  about  Paroma  that  he 
will  have  forgotten  both  its  longitude  and  latitude, 
and  treat  it  as  a  dream.  Long  may  it  flourish,  just 
as  an  unknown  orchid  flourishes  in  Colombian  ever- 
glades, or  a  fine  undiscovered  jewel  in  a  mine,  quite 
uncontaminated  by  the  thing  that  we  call  progress, 
and  pride  ourselves  upon,  as  justly  as  a  man  might 
pride  himself  upon  an  ulcer  in  his  leg,  a  fine  hare- 
lip, or  any  other  malformation. 

I  hope  the  chief  will  not  forget,  when  the  false 
dawn  streaks  all  the  sky  with  red,  to  rise  up  from 
sleep,  and  taking  down  a  calabash  fill  it  with 
chicha,  then,  winding  his  poncho  round  his  neck, 
will  make  his  way  through  the  wet  grass,  leaving  a 
trail,  with  his  short  inturned  feet  as  of  a  plantigrade, 


xvi  PREFACE 

in  the  white  dew.  Then  in  the  middle  of  the 
square,  whilst  the  God  of  his  forefathers  is  born 
again  into  the  world,  that  he  will  pour  the  chicha 
on  the  grass,  praying,  as  the  Incas  prayed  in  that 
great  temple  that  they  raised  in  Cuzco,  to  the  sun. 
Let  him  pray  on ;  for  prayer  is  to  the  soul  what 
most  divine  tobacco  is  to  the  senses,  deadening  and 
comforting.  For  after  all  it  is  but  giving  up  one- 
self unto  oneself  J  and  waiting  dumbly  for  some- 
thing that  may  come  from  nothing,  or  again  may 
never  come ;  but  as  he  prays  the  sun  will  rise  for  all 
that,  just  as  it  rose  in  Atahualpa's  time,  and  will 
continue  rising. 

R.  B.  CUNNINGHAME  GRAHAM. 


i 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGK 

I      THE  CHALLANA  RUBBER  CONCESSION        -  1 

II      AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS     -            -  6 

III  LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  AND  SORATA        -  19 

IV  THE  PEAK  OF  SORATA  AND  TIQUIRIPAGA  37 
V      OVER      THE      QUILLAPATUNI      PASS      TO 

TIPUANI              -            -            _            -  58 

VI      FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA    -           -           -  78 
VII      THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  :   FIRST 

ATTEMPT           -           -           -           -  142 

VIII      THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT             .           -           -  179 

IX      THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT     -            -            -            -  194 
X      A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  AND  HOW  TO  TRAVEL 

IN  THOSE  PARTS       -           -           -  221 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

GOLD  firm's  headquarters  ON  THE  TIPUANI  Frontis. 

FACING  FAGK 

A  LLAMA      - 80 

THE  PEAK  OF  SORATA  -----  38 

SOME   NATIVE   TYPES    SEEN   IN   THE   INTERIOR 

OF   BOLIVIA   -  -  -  -  -  42 

NATIVES  IN  THE  INTERIOR  OF  BOLIVIA    -  -  58 

AN  INDIAN  W^OMAN  OF  THE  BOLIVIAN  INTERIOR  72 

JAGUAR  AND  PUMA  SKINS,  BOWS  AND  ARROWS 
AND  WOODEN  SPEARS  BROUGHT  BACK 
BY  ME  FROM  BOLIVIA       -  -  -  90 

MY  CHILDREN  IN  INDIAN  HEADGEAR,  WITH 
JAGUAR  SKINS  AND  INDIAN  WEAPONS 
BROUGHT  BACK  BY  ME  FROM  BOLIVIA  94 

PAROMA  VILLAGE,  SHOWING  THE  CHURCH, 
THE  chiefs'  HOUSES  AND  COCA 
PLANTATION  -  -  -  -         124 

YUNGAS  POTTERY  RECENTLY  DISCOVERED  IN 
BOLIVIA,    SAID    TO   BE   6,000    YEARS 

OLD 138 

LLAMAS  OUTSIDE  THE  TOWN  OF  CAXAMALCA  -    152 
THE  CAMP  AT  SACAMBAJA  AND  THE  CABALLO 

CUNCO  HILI.  -     •     -     T     -    170 


ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  CHALLANA  RUBBER  CONCESSION 

IN  July,  1903,  I  was  engaged  by  the  Challana 
and  Tongo  Rubber  Company  to  go  and  find 
out  the  conditions  on  which  the  Indians  of 
Challana  would  tap  rubber  for  them.  It 
was  freely  given  out  at  the  time  that  no  white  man 
had  been  to  Paroma,  their  capital,  and  returned 
safely  since  1845  ;  and  my  plan  was  to  go  to  Paroma 
and  see  the  chief  of  the  Indians  and  his  head  men, 
and  hear  what  they  had  to  say. 

The  Challana  Tongo  Concession  was  originally 
bought  from  the  Bolivian  Government  by  the 
father  of  Colonel  Nunez  del  Prado,  who  paid  them  a 
sum  of  money  in  cash,  and  a  yearly  rental.  When 
he  died,  he  left  the  concession  to  his  son,  who 
turned  it  over  to  a  Company  in  return  for  a  sum 
down,  and  a  rental  of  £1,000  a  year. 

The  last  expedition  into  the  interior  by  this  Com- 


2  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

pany  to  pick  rubber  had  turned  out  a  complete 
failure.  Of  the  three  white  men  in  charge,  two 
were  murdered  by  the  Indians;  the  manager, 
Filippo  Barbari,  an  Italian,  had  had  his  hands  and 
feet  cut  off,  and  was  then  thrown  into  the  river, 
and  Rodriguez,  the  storekeeper,  had  his  head  cut 
off.  The  third,  Donovan,  the  book-keeper,  got 
away  by  hiding  in  the  day-time,  and  following  up 
the  river  at  night,  till  he  got  out  of  the  Indian 
territory ;  he  was  the  only  one  who  came  back  to 
tell  the  tale.  All  the  rubber  and  stores  were  stolen. 
The  Government  at  La  Paz  then  thought  it 
necessary  to  despatch  an  expedition  of  200  soldiers 
under  Captain  Cusicanqui,  with  orders  to  punish 
the  Indians,  and  also  to  find  out  what  had  happened 
to  Captain  Lorenzo  Villarde  and  his  lieutenant, 
Macedonia  Villavicencia,  who  had  been  sent  back 
as  an  escort  with  the  Cacique  of  Challana,  after  his 
visit  to  the  authorities  at  I^a  Paz.  Some  of  the 
soldiers  fell  sick  with  the  puna  or  siroctre  (moun- 
tain sickness),  and  others  were  attacked  in  the 
forest  by  terciana  (malarial  fever),  after  crossing 
the  YUiapo  range ;  however,  the  rest  arrived  safely 
with  their  captain  at  the  Challana  River,  which  the 
natives  regard  as  their  boundary.  To  their  great 
surprise,  they  were  met  there  by  Indians  armed 
with  rifles,  and  ready  to  resist  them,  under  the 


CHALLANA  RUBBER  CONCESSION    3 

leadership  of  Villarde,  the  very  man  they  had  come 
to  rescue.  Cusicanque  gave  the  order  to  fire,  but 
the  soldiers  refused  to  obey  him,  saying  that  they 
could  not  fire  on  their  old  captain ;  most  of  them 
actually  abandoned  Cusicanque,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to  return  to  La  Paz  with  50  men,  without 
their  arms.  Plans  were  made  to  send  another 
expedition  at  the  expense  of  the  Challana  Rubber 
Company,  and  the  Bolivian  Government  promised 
to  lend  200  soldiers;  but  it  was  found  that  the 
expense  would  be  too  heavy,  and  it  was  finally 
decided  to  get  some  one  to  go  in  and  find  out  the 
facts  personally,  and  try  to  discover  what  kind  of 
a  bargain  could  be  made  with  the  Indians  for 
tapping  the  rubber. 

The  Company  then  made  preliminary  arrange- 
ments to  sell  the  concession  to  an  American  Com- 
pany for  £100,000,  to  be  paid  half  in  cash,  half  in 
shares,  but  they  stipulated  that  before  anything 
could  be  done  it  would  be  necessary  to  send  in 
some  reliable  man  to  see  what  terms  could  be  made 
between  the  Indians  of  Challana  and  the  Govern- 
ment of  Bolivia.  They  realized  from  the  first  that 
to  secure  such  a  man  a  good  offer  would  have  to 
be  made,  and  they  promised  expenses  and  £6,000 
commission,  if  the  concession  was  taken  over  within 
two  years. 


4  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

The  first  person  to  undertake  the  job  was  a  Mr. 
StaedUer,  the  Vice-Consul  for  Belgium  in  Bolivia. 
His  mother,  who  was  living  with  him  in  La  Paz, 
went  to  considerable  expense  to  supplement  his 
equipment  for  the  trip. 

Accordingly,  he  started  off  on  his  perilous  jour- 
ney. When  he  got  to  the  boundary,  he  was  met 
by  an  Indian  with  a  letter  of  warning  for  him  on 
a  stick,  telling  him  that  his  party  would  not  be 
permitted  to  cross  the  River  Challana — that  they 
must  return  at  once,  and  that  they  must  leave 
behind  them  all  their  tents,  gear,  goods,  their 
diving  apparatus,  and  pipes  for  gold- washing  and 
their  two  Kodak  cameras,  also  all  their  clothes, 
coats  and  other  garments,  with  the  exception  of 
a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  pants  each.  They  were  given 
till  midday  the  next  day  to  move. 

That  night  they  were  surrounded  by  many  fires, 
and  when  Staedlier  saw  that  he  was  encompassed 
by  so  many  armed  Indians  he  thought  it  only 
prudent  to  return.  When  he  got  back  to  Sorata, 
he  had  to  send  a  boy  back  to  his  mother,  asking 
her  to  send  him  some  clothes  for  his  journey  back 
to  La  Paz. 

I  was  told  all  about  this  by  Mr.  Leguia,  then 
Minister  of  Hacienda,  and  afterwards  President  of 
Peru,  and  when  he  asked  me  if  I  would  care  to 


CHALLANA  RUBBER  CONCESSION    5 

undertake  the  trip  I  accepted  at  once.  An  agree- 
ment was  drawn  up  whereby  I  was  to  be  paid  all 
expenses,  and  a  sum  of  £10,000,  if  the  U.S.A.  or 
any  other  government  took  over  the  concession 
within  two  years  of  my  return. 

I  had  several  reasons  for  undertaking  this  jour- 
ney. Firstly,  I  was  anxious  to  visit  Lake  Titicaca, 
the  highest  navigable  lake  in  the  world,  and  I 
wanted  very  much  to  get  up  close  to  one  of  the 
highest  mountains  in  the  world,  the  Peak  of 
Sorata.  Then  there  was  the  long  and  interesting 
march  through  the  tropical  forest  to  Paroma,  the 
capital  of  Challana,  and  getting  back  again,  a  thing 
which  no  white  man  had  done  since  1845.  Last, 
but  not  quite  least,  there  was  the  £10,000. 


CHAPTER  II 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS 


I  LEFT  Lima  in  September,  1903.  Mr. 
Leguia  did  his  best  to  persuade  me  not  to 
start,  as  since  he  had  made  arrangements 
with  me  Mr.  Beauclerk,  the  British 
Minister,  had  called  on  him  and  asked  him  not  to 
let  me  sign  the  agreement.  He  had  read  and 
heard  of  Staedlier's  expedition  and  its  result,  and 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  far  too 
dangerous  for  anyone  to  go  in  alone.  I  told 
Leguia  I  had  already  notified  the  various  Chilian 
horse  owners,  whose  horses  I  had  been  training, 
and  had  sublet  my  stable  there  for  the  time  I 
would  be  away;  and  I  said  I  was  prepared  to 
undertake  the  journey,  agreement  or  no  agree- 
ment, provided  he  would  agree  to  abide  by  the 
terms  if  I  succeeded  in  reaching  Paroma  and  get- 
ting the  information  required.     He  assured  me  he 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS  7 

would  do  so  and  expected  all  the  others  to  do  the 
same. 

So  in  September  I  left  Callao  for  Mollendo  by 
the  s.s.  Columbia  of  the  P.S.N.  Co.  (which,  by 
the  way,  was  lost  in  a  fog  on  the  rocks  off  the 
Lobitos  Islands  the  very  next  year).  At  Mollendo 
the  landing  is  generally  ver>^  rough  and  the  rollers 
very  heavy  till  you  get  right  in  near  the  jetty; 
sometimes  passengers  have  to  be  lowered  down  in 
baskets  and  occasionally  they  cannot  be  landed  at 
all,  but  on  this  occasion  the  sea  was  calm.  I  put 
up  at  the  Hotel  Ferro  Carril  where  the  rooms  are 
large,  the  food  and  drinks  quite  good,  and  the 
charges  moderate,  from  4/-  to  6/-  a  day.  There 
is  another  hotel  in  the  Plaza,  but  when  I  was  there 
the  owner  was  down  with  bubonic  plague  and  the 
place  had  been  put  in  quarantine.  Next  morning 
I  took  the  train  to  Arequipa,  7,500ft.  up,  a  whole 
day's  journey,  and  put  up  at  the  Hotel  Maloni, 
the  best  in  the  place,  paying  6/-  a  day.  At  this 
altitude  in  these  parts  the  atmosphere  is  the  purest 
and  the  climate  the  finest  in  the  world ;  in  fact,  all 
along  the  Andes  Range,  from  3,000ft.  to  10,000ft., 
the  climate  is  hard  to  beat,  in  my  opinion.  Over 
10,000ft.  is  rather  too  high. 

In  Arequipa  itself  the  streets  are  well-paved  and 
kept ;  outside  the  town  there  are  no  roads  at  all, 


I 

8  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

but  just  well  beaten  tracks.  The  cathedral  is  one 
of  the  finest  outside  Lima.  The  police  regulations 
are  quite  excellent.  All  policemen  are  armed  with 
rifles,  and  at  night  one  of  them  is  posted  at  every 
square.  Every  half-hour  throughout  the  night  he 
blows  one  sharp  call  on  his  whistle  which  is  an- 
swered by  the  next  one,  and  so  on;  when  two 
sharp  calls  are  blown  the  men  on  either  side  come 
up  to  see  what  is  the  matter.  The  inspectors  ride 
round  periodically  during  the  night  to  see  that  all 
is  well.  All  the  windows  are  fenced  in  with  stout 
iron  bars  built  into  the  masonry  so  that  they  can 
be  opened  without  the  risk  of  thieves  breaking  in. 
I  went  to  the  Prefect  to  register  my  gun,  rifle 
and  revolver,  and  he  gave  me  a  special  order  of 
permission  to  use  it  in  self-defence  if  necessary. 
Without  these  documents  nobody  is  supposed  to 
carry  arms  in  Peru. 

In  this  town  there  is  a  constant  coming  and 
going  of  Indians,  with  their  strings  of  llamas; 
these  animals  serve  them  as  beasts  of  burden  and 
food,  and  their  skins  provide  them  with  clothes. 
The  town  possesses  two  good  clubs  where  strangers 
are  always  made  welcome,  also  a  small  racecourse. 
The  ladies  of  Arequipa  are  justly  famous  through- 
out Peru  for  their  beauty. 

My  next  concern  was  my  weight,   which  was 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS  9 

265lbs.,  and  I  thought  it  was  well  to  reduce  this 
before  starting  on  my  long  march  over  the  high 
Andes  into  the  forests  below.  So  I  drove  over  to 
have  a  look  at  the  hot  springs  21  miles  from 
Arequipa,  and  the  next  day  I  took  the  train  to 
the  famous  springs  of  Jura,  9,000ft.  up,  which 
used  in  former  days  to  be  a  favourite  resort  of  the 
Incas  of  Peru.  I  decided  to  remain  there  till  I 
had  reduced  my  weight  to  235lbs. 

The  regular  train  from  Arequipa  to  Puno  runs 
twice  a  week,  leaving  at  8  a.m.  and  stopping  at 
Jura  to  take  up  water  and  set  down  passengers  at 
9.30  the  next  morning.  The  baths  are  a  mile 
from  the  station  by  a  stone  footpath.  The  waters 
are  marvellous;  they  can  and  do  cure  almost  any 
disease,  and  are  a  remedy  for  ailments  that  baffle 
the  cleverest  medical  men.  It  is  worth  while 
relating  here  a  few  cases  of  almost  miraculous 
cures,  that  came  to  my  personal  knowledge  on  the 
several  occasions  I  stayed  there.  One  was  the 
daughter  of  a  well-to-do  man,  a  very  pretty  girl, 
who  had  lupus  on  one  ear.  Her  father  took  her 
to  Jura,  hired  a  house  from  the  Municipality  of 
Arequipa,  who  run  the  baths,  and  left  her  there 
for  nearly  a  year  with  her  mother,  sister,  a  cook 
and  Indian  boy.  In  three  months  he  told  me  she 
was  practically  cured,  but  he  let  her  stay  a  little 


10  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

longer  to  make  certain.  I  saw  her  myself  shortly 
after  she  arrived  at  Jura,  and  again  nearly  a  year 
afterwards,  when  her  father  arrived  to  take  her 
away. 

Another  was  a  merchant  from  Iquique,  who 
arrived  so  racked  with  rheumatism  that  he  could 
not  even  crawl,  and  had  to  be  dumped  down  in 
the  water  in  a  blanket.  In  six  months  he  left 
quite  cured  and  restored  to  his  normal  weight  and 
more;  Morosine,  the  hotel-keeper,  who  was  my 
informant,  told  me  that  he  wrote  to  him  two  years 
after  he  had  left  and  said  that  up  to  then  he  had 
not  had  a  single  ache  or  pain.  Here  is  another 
case  :  After  I  had  been  there  a  couple  of  days  a 
gentleman,  who  was  staying  in  one  of  the  little 
houses  he  was  renting  from  the  Municipality,  came 
up  to  me  and  asked  me  whether  I  would  mind 
doing  him  a  favour.  He  had  brought  his  wife 
there  from  Lima,  to  try  the  baths  for  a  spinal 
complaint ;  he  had  been  told  of  them  by  a  doctor 
in  Harley  Street,  London,  whom  he  consulted 
and  who  said  that  he  believed  they  could  do  more 
than  any  medical  man.  He  told  me  she  screamed 
out  with  pain  when  he  and  his  servant  carried  her 
down,  and  asked  me  if  I  would  mind  carrying  her 
down  for  him  while  I  was  there,  as  he  thought  it 
would  be  easier  for  her  to  be  carried  by  one  person. 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS  11 

I  did  this  for  a  few  mornings,  till  she  could  manage 
to  walk  down  the  steps  herself  with  my  support, 
and  in  three  weeks  from  the  time  I  met  her  she 
was  able  to  walk  down  by  herself,  and  up  too; 
after  six  months  she  went  away  cured.  I  met  the 
man  in  Arequipa  nine  months  after  his  wife's 
treatment  at  the  baths,  and  he  said  she  had  been 
out  of  pain  for  months ;  and  a  week  or  two  after 
I  had  left  Jura  she  was  actually  able  to  wait  on 
herself.  Yet  another  case  was  that  of  a  man  whom 
I  met  there,  an  engine  driver  on  the  Arequipa- 
Puno  Railway,  who  was  suffering  from  malignant 
ulcers  which  he  had  got  while  gold  washing  in  the 
stream  near  the  Santo  Domingo  Mine.  He  had 
been  at  Jura  two  months  when  I  saw  him,  and 
had  practically  been  cured,  simply  by  drinking  the 
waters  from  one  of  the  several  springs,  and  bathing 
in  the  baths  twice  a  day.  He  told  me  he  now  had 
his  cocktail,  martine  or  gin  and  bitters  before  his 
lunch  and  dinner,  just  as  he  always  did.  I  could 
mention  many  other  cases. 

There  are  two  ways  of  staying  at  Jura.  One  is 
to  put  up  at  the  hotel  built  by  Morosini,  an 
Italian,  who  was  given  ground  and  other  facilities 
rent  free  by  the  Municipality  of  Arequipa  for 
twenty-five  years,  provided  he  built  an  hotel  with 

accommodation  for  ten  or  twelve  guests,  and  was 

3 


12  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

allowed  to  charge  6/-  a  day.  The  other  is  to  rent 
one  or  more  of  the  Httle  stone  houses  owned  by 
the  Municipality  for  £3  a  month  each ;  these  con- 
sist of  two  rooms  with  two  chairs  and  a  table  in 
each,  a  kitchen  and  veranda,  two  mud-built  beds, 
a  brick  oven,  and  the  usual  mudrange  to  hold  four 
or  five  pots. 

Fresh  mutton  is  brought  by  the  Puno  train,  and 
fresh  meat  by  the  Arequipa  train  twice  a  week. 
The  Indians  round  about  always  have  fowls  and 
eggs  to  sell.  There  is  some  partridge  and  duck 
shooting  to  be  got  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
occasionally  some  guanacos ;  but  guanaco  meat  is 
not  worth  bothering  about  when  you  can  get  fine 
mountain  sheep  for  6/-  and  8/  -  each.  Some  of  the 
most  beautiful  cacti  grow  hereabouts,  and  there 
are  flowers  of  all  colours,  red,  or  slate  blue,  yellow, 
white,  purple  or  pink,  all  as  large  as  saucers,  with 
several  on  each  stem.  There  is  a  good  sized  stream 
or  river  which  runs  for  twenty  miles  underground 
near  here,  and  then  appears  again.  Several 
families  of  Indians  live  in  this  district  with  their 
llamas,  and  fine-looking  long-haired  donkeys,  which 
have  the  peculiarity  of  four  holes  in  their  noses, 
instead  of  two ;  they  have  the  ordinary  nostrils  and 
then  another  pair,  about  half  an  inch  round,  two 
inches  higher  up. 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS  13 

Morosini  told  me  that  some  few  years  ago  when 
he  was  keeping  a  rest  house  at  Juliaea,  where  the 
line  branches  off  to  Cusco,  the  capital  of  the  Incas, 
where  they  built  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  he  knew 
an  Italian  who  had  discovered  where  some  of  the 
Inca  treasure  was  hidden.  Apparently  he  had 
made  his  home  near  that  place  for  two  years,  and 
used  to  disappear  every  now  and  then  with  two 
mules,  provisions  and  gear,  staying  away  for  five 
or  six  days,  and  coming  back  with  bars  of  gold 
weighing  two  to  five  kilos  each,  which  he  took  to 
the  bank  at  Arequipa. 

Morosini  tried  hard  to  discover  the  hiding-place 
of  this  treasure,  and  once  he  followed  the  fellow ; 
but  he  never  succeeded  in  finding  the  place.  All 
he  could  gather  was  that  where  this  gold  came 
from  there  was  a  lot  more,  and  that  the  Italian 
had  been  shown  the  place  by  an  old  Indian  whom 
he  had  accidentally  found  coming  away  from  it 
one  day.  The  Indian  bound  him  to  secrecy,  and 
made  him  promise  that  he  would  only  take  away 
with  him  just  what  he  could  carry  up  the  steep 
mountain  path.  There  was  nobody  living  any- 
where near  the  place,  and  it  was  extremely  well 
concealed ;  the  Italian  made  several  trips  to  this 
place  during  the  two  years  Morosini  knew  him, 
and  then  went  back  to  live  in  his  Italian  home. 


14  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

He  had  come  out  to  Peru  to  prospect  for  a  gold 
concession,  and  had  struck  this  find  by  pure  luck ; 
he  was  practically  a  teetotaller,  so  there  was  no 
chance  of  his  disclosing  the  secret  in  his  cups. 

While  I  am  on  the  subject  of  the  Jura  baths  I 
ought  to  say  something  about  a  few  more  of  the 
old  Inca  baths.  A  couple  of  years  before  I  went 
to  Jura  I  visited  out  of  curiosity  the  Lago 
Huacachina  (which  means  the  lake  for  incurables). 
To  get  you  there  take  the  steamer  to  Pisco,  two 
days  south  of  Callao,  and  then  the  Pisco-Ica  train 
across  the  40  miles  of  desert  which  separates  the 
two  places.  On  the  way  at  a  little  place  where 
the  engine  takes  in  water  I  saw  the  most  mag- 
nificent bunch  of  heliotrope  I  ever  saw  in  my  life 
anywhere ;  a  wonderful  mass  of  flower  it  looked  in 
the  middle  of  this  sandy  desert.  On  arriving  at 
lea  you  hire  a  horse  or  a  mule  and  ride  16  miles, 
then  up  a  3,000ft.  sandhill  at  the  finish,  and  then 
down  1,000ft ;  and  there  lies  the  Lago  Huacachina. 
There  is  a  rest-house  there  with  blocks  of  two 
rooms  each,  mud  bed,  mud  fireplace,  and  oven, 
table  and  two  chairs  in  each,  and  you  pay  a  rent 
of  2/-  a  day  to  the  caretaker  and  find  your  own 
food.  There  is  tropical  vegetation  all  round  the 
lake,  which  is  about  300  yards  long  and  half  as 
wide,  with  a  flat-bottomed  boat  on  it  which  anyone 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS  15 

can  use ;  I  took  it  one  day  in  order  to  find  the 
depth,  which  was  exactly  17ft.  on  the  average, 
from  about  20  or  25  yards  off  the  shore;  the 
deepest  part  was  in  the  middle. 

I  met  here  one  John  Robson,  a  rich  brewer, 
who  had  come  because  he  had  got  a  stroke  all  down 
one  side.  He  told  me  he  had  been  there  just  three 
months  and  could  walk  about  again  as  well  as  ever 
but  the  trouble  in  his  arm  was  not  right  yet.  I 
suggested  he  should  go  in  like  a  dog  on  all  fours 
and  give  his  arm  the  same  chance  as  his  leg.  He 
said  he  had  never  thought  of  that,  and  would 
certainly  try  it.  Two  years  later  I  met  a  man 
who  knew  him  and  who  told  me  that  John  Robson 
was  quite  cured  and  came  back  well  as  ever  after 
eight  months  on  the  lake. 

Another  man,  Piccione,  an  Italian,  had  had  a 
bad  fall  from  his  horse  while  jumping  a  fence  in 
Italy,  which  smashed  his  head  and  gave  him  con- 
cussion. He  recovered,  but  ever  since  then  used 
to  suffer  from  severe  headaches,  and  could  find  no 
remedy  till  he  went  to  this  lake,  stayed  there  six 
months  and  was  quite  cured.  I  met  Mrs.  Piccione 
and  her  daughters  at  Pisco,  and  she  told  me  that 
it  was  now  nearly  three  years  since  they  left  the 
lake  and  that  he  had  had  no  trouble  with  his  head 
since  then. 


16  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

The  baths  are  free  to  every  one  and  there  is  no 
special  course  of  treatment;  you  simply  bathe  in 
the  lake  and  the  waters  do  the  rest.  It  is  advis- 
able, however,  not  to  stay  in  for  more  than  twenty 
minutes  at  a  time.  The  caretaker  told  me  that 
more  than  one  death  had  occurred  through  patients 
staying  in  too  long  at  a  time.  The  water  contains, 
among  other  things,  iron  potash  and  sulphur. 

In  Jura  the  waters  contain  magnesia  as  well  as 
the  potash  and  sulphur,  and  the  Municipality  have 
put  up  a  notice  forbidding  people  to  remain  more 
than  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  in  the  No.  4  bath. 
This  one  is  the  hottest  and  most  dangerous,  and 
there  is  a  policeman  always  on  duty  there. 

Another  of  the  old  Inca  Baths  is  Cauquenes 
near  Santiago  in  Chili.  This  is  a  pretty  place  but 
the  waters  are  not  very  strong;  it  is  more  of  a 
health  and  rest  resort.  Then  there  are  the  Chilian 
baths ;  to  get  there  you  take  the  train  from  San- 
tiago to  Chilian,  an  all  day  and  all  night  journey ; 
then  you  can  drive  the  remaining  ninety  miles  by 
coach  with  frequent  change  of  horses  or  mules. 
These  baths  are  owned  by  the  Municipality  of 
Chilian,  and  are  only  open  for  the  summer  months, 
from  November  till  March,  as  they  are  under  snow 
for  the  rest  of  the  year.  There  are  three  hot 
vapour  baths  there  called  El  Toro,  Novillo,  and 


AREQUIPA  AND  THE  JURA  BATHS  17 

Vaca;  the  first,  meaning  "bull,"  is  the  hottest, 
the  second  means  ''  steer,"  and  the  third  "  cow." 
There  is  a  Government  doctor  kept  at  the  establish- 
ment to  see  that  nobody  stays  more  than  eight 
minutes  in  the  Toro,  which  is  like  the  hottest  room 
in  a  Turkish  bath,  only  much  hotter.  There  is  a 
good  hotel  there  open  from  November  till  March. 

Then  there  is  also  the  Puente  Inca  on  the  way 
across  the  Andine  Railway  from  Mendoza  to  Los 
Andes  and  several  others.  But  the  best  of  these 
baths  in  my  opinion  are  Lago  Huacachina  and 
Jura. 

While  I  was  at  Jura  I  met  a  Norwegian  who 
had  just  returned  a  few  weeks  before  from  the 
Tipuani  River,  on  the  way  to  Challana.  He  begged 
me  not  to  go  and  told  me  I  would  be  killed  if  I 
tried  to  cross  the  river,  but,  anyhow,  he  said  I 
would  never  get  there  as  I  would  have  to  walk  on 
foot  over  the  17,000ft.  Ylliapo  range  of  mountains, 
and  that  I  would  never  be  able  to  do.  When  I 
asked  him  why  not  he  said  I  was  too  big  (I  was 
then  still  265lbs.),  and  told  me  he  himself  had  been 
offered  £500  to  go  and  make  a  report  on  the  gold 
washing  on  the  Tipuani  and  got  so  knocked  up  that 
it  took  him  two  years  to  recover  sufficiently  from 
the  journey  to  walk  back ;  he  was  staying  there  for 
three  months  to  recover  his  health. 


18  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

After  staying  at  Jura  for  three  weeks  or  a 
month,  I  had  reduced  my  weight  from  265lbs.  to 
235lbs. ;  so  I  sold  my  horse  back  to  the  original 
owner  for  £16,  and  left  for  Pimo. 


CHAPTER  III 

LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  AND  SORATA 

1LEFT  Jura  at  9  a.m.  by  the  Arequipa  Puno 
train,  which  set  me  down  at  Puno,  along- 
side Lake  Titicaca  at  8  p.m.  or  a  little 
earlier;  there  one  of  the  comfortable  lake 
steamers,  the  '*  Puno  "  or  the  "  Quaqui,"  awaits 
the  train  for  passengers  for  La  Paz.  The  highest 
point  passed  by  the  train  on  the  way  to  Puno  is 
Crucero  Alto  (14,666ft.) ;  the  country  here  is  just 
a  high,  bleak,  sandy  desert  for  miles  around. 
Either  here  or  at  Juliaca  further  up  the  line,  you 
get  off  to  continue  the  long  journey  to  the  Rio 
Santo  Domingo  (Sunday)  river.  At  Juliaca,  part 
of  the  train  goes  on  to  Cusco,  the  old  capital  of  the 
Incas,  and  the  other  part  goes  to  Puno. 

After  passing  Jura,  I  saw  several  herds  of 
guanacos,  and  sometimes  a  few  deer.  Further  up, 
over  the  12,000ft.  line  near  Crucero  Alto  and 
Juliaca,  I  could  see  the  vicunas  going  galloping 

19 


20  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

off  on  either  side  of  the  line,  as  the  train  came 
near.  The  guanaco  is  found  from  3,000ft.  to 
9,000ft.  or  10,000ft.,  the  vicuna  from  9,000ft.  to 
16,000ft.,  and  the  true  condor  eagle  from  14,000ft. 
to  16,000ft.,  except  when  some  animal  dies  down 
below,  then  they  seem  to  scent  it  and  go  to  as 
low  as  12,000ft.  to  finish  it  off.  At  16,000ft. 
perpetual  snow  generally  begins  in  these  parts, 
and  over  that  altitude  nothing  is  to  be  seen,  not 
a  bird,  or  a  beast,  or  a  tree  of  any  sort. 

At  first  I  had  the  idea  of  continuing  the  journey 
to  Challana  from  Puno  and  not  touching  La  Paz 
until  my  return,  but  I  eventually  decided  to  go 
and  call  on  Staedlier  first,  and  hear  what  he  had 
to  say  about  his  trip. 

At  Puno  I  went  to  call  on  the  Prefect,  who 
received  me  very  well,  and  wanted  me  to  stay  for 
a  month  or  two  to  examine  some  Inca  ruins  that 
he  knew  of  some  ten  leagues  off.  He  offered  to 
find  me  ten  or  twelve  Indians  and  llamas,  and  lend 
me  a  good  mule  for  myself.  I  thanked  him,  and 
told  him  that  after  I  had  finished  the  job  on  hand 
I  would  certainly  look  him  up  again  and  explore 
the  ruins  he  spoke  of. 

There  was  no  boat  the  night  the  train  arrived, 
as  I  had  come  by  the  weekly  cargo  train,  or  extra, 
so  I  left  Puno  by  the  lake  steamer  the  following 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  21 

night,  and  got  to  Quaqui  on  the  BoHvian  side  of 
the  lake  next  afternoon. 

Lake  Titicaca,  the  highest  navigable  lake  in  the 
world,  is  165  miles  long,  65  miles  broad,  and  from 
100ft.  to  600ft.  deep.  One  half  of  the  lake  be- 
longs to  Peru,  the  other  half  to  Bolivia ;  there  are 
several  islands  peopled  chiefly  by  Indians  and 
Cholos,  or  half-castes,  w^ho  sail  all  over  the  lake 
from  the  islands  to  the  steamer,  in  their  native 
balsas,  made  of  grass  and  reeds,  with  one  sail  set, 
in  all  sorts  of  weathers.  The  lake  can  be  quite 
rough  at  times  when  squalls  upset  the  waters. 

This  great  inland  sea,  replenished  by  the  melting 
snow  of  the  Andes,  is  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
sights  in  the  world,  and  there  is  no  finer  view 
anywhere  than  the  high  Ylliapo  range  and  the 
Peak  of  Sorata,  and  the  wonderful  pyramid-shaped 
mountains  of  YUimani,  close  to  La  Paz,  two  of 
the  most  magnificent  ranges  of  the  Cordillera  of 
the  Andes,  which  you  see  from  the  deck  of  the 
steamer. 

From  Quaqui  I  took  the  train  to  La  Paz  Alto, 
thirty-five  miles  off,  over  flat  ground  all  the  way ; 
this  line  passes  through  General  Pardo's  big 
ranch.  At  La  Paz  Alto  (12,525ft.)  there  are 
always  several  big  brakes  drawn  by  six  mules  or 
horses,  which  go  down  to  La  Paz  at  a  good  hand- 


22  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

gallop  along  the  winding  road  cut  out  of  the 
mountain ;  there  is  also  a  steam  tram  which  has 
recently  been  constructed  in  connection  with  the 
La  Paz  and  Quaqui  line,  and  which  is  controlled 
by  the  same  Peruvian  Corporation  at  Lima  that 
owns  the  lake  steamers. 

As  you  go  down  the  steep  mountain  road  on 
top  of  a  coach,  a  magnificent  panorama  opens 
before  you,  and  you  see  the  city  of  La  Paz,  with 
its  red-tiled  roofs,  open  plazas,  gardens,  churches 
and  public  buildings,  and  some  old  ruins  on  the 
outskirts,  and  beyond  it,  stretching  to  the  foot  of 
the  beautiful  Yllimani  Mountain  the  rich  basin  that 
forms  the  Yungas  Valley. 

The  city  of  La  Paz  (11,000ft.  to  10,800ft.)  is 
built  in  two  distinct  levels.  On  the  higher  ground 
are  the  Government  buildings,  and  the  Plaza  where 
the  fine  artillery  band  plays;  and  lower  down  is 
the  big  Indian  market.  Lower  down  still,  just  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  city,  at  10,000ft.  down  a 
beautiful  level  avenue  past  the  barracks,  stands  the 
picturesque  house  of  General  Pa9do,  who  led  the 
Liberal  Party  in  the  revolution  of  1898,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  replacing  Alonso  for  two  years  as 
President  of  Bolivia.  General  Paijdo  was  cer- 
tainly a  man  who  did  more  for  Bolivia  than  many 
others,  though  he  did  some  good  for  himself  as 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  23 

well.  It  was  General  Paijdo  who  regulated  the 
rich  rubber  zone  of  the  Acre  with  Brazil,  and 
thereby  saved  his  country  from  war,  got  a  good 
round  sum  of  money  for  Bolivia,  and  undid  the 
work  of  President  Melgarejo,  a  former  President, 
who  had  ceded  the  Acre  district  over  to  Brazil, 
with  small  compensation  for  Bolivia.  When  Pa«do 
came  into  power,  he  advised  Brazil  that  this  was 
Bolivian  territory,  and  that  the  former  President 
had  no  right  to  barter  away  land  belonging  to  the 
country  he  governed ;  but  as  Brazil  had  policed  the 
district  for  a  number  of  years,  and  as  it  was  now 
peopled  largely  by  Brazilians,  the  Brazilian 
Government  did  not  want  to  give  it  up.  How- 
ever, they  offered  to  settle  the  matter  by  paying 
Bohvia  £2,000,000,  and  the  transactions  were  car- 
ried out  in  November,  1903.  When  I  got  to  La 
Paz,  in  the  middle  of  that  month.  General  Pando 
was  still  absent  with  his  staff  in  the  Acre. 

While  I  was  at  La  Paz,  I  put  up  at  the  Grand 
Hotel  Guibert,  which  is  kept  by  a  rich  Frenchman 
of  that  name.  The  rooms  are  all  well  furnished, 
the  food  is  very  good,  and  the  prices  of  everything, 
even  the  drinks,  are  extremely  reasonable.  All 
the  servants  and  waiters  are  Pongos  (Indians),  all 
of  them  males;  they  wear  woollen  nightcaps  to 
keep  their  heads  warm.     The  only  dra\yback  was 


24  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

that  there  was  no  decent  lavatory,  and  not  a  single 
bath  in  the  place.  So  the  first  thing  I  did  on 
arriving  was  to  go  out  and  buy  the  largest  tub 
that  I  could  find  for  my  morning  dip. 

M.  Guibert  told  me  that  he  came  to  Bolivia  with 
a  fair  amount  of  capital,  and  had  made  a  good 
deal  more,  but  he  complained  of  having  contracted 
very  bad  rheumatism.  I  advised  him  to  give  the 
Jura  baths  a  trial,  and  to  take  some  saltpetre  every 
day  and  see  how  that  worked.  I  have  met  him 
several  times  since,  and  he  tells  me  he  is  cured. 

The  whole  city  of  La  Paz  is  built  on  a  high  gold 
mountain.  Many  large  nuggets  of  gold  have  been 
found  on  the  banks  of  the  river  that  runs  through 
the  city.  One  day  I  rode  off  on  one  of  my  mules 
to  visit  the  gold  washing  of  a  French  Company, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  manager,  a  Frenchman, 
who  lived  at  the  place  with  his  wife.  The  em- 
ployes consisted  of  a  few  whites  and  several  In- 
dians, both  men  and  women,  and  the  Company  had 
four  large  cranes  to  lift  the  big  river  boulders. 
The  day  I  was  there  I  saw  not  just  a  few,  but  a 
considerable  number  of  small  nuggets,  one  of  them 
weighing  nearly  an  ounce,  picked  up  by  the  In- 
dians and  handed  to  the  different  overseers ;  this 
was  before  the  gravel  was  got  ready  to  wash,  and 
I  thought  to  myself  what  a  rich  place  it  must  be. 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  25 

Imagine  my  surprise  to  read  in  a  newspaper  two 
years  afterwards,  that  this  Company  had  gone 
broke. 

As  I  had  intended,  I  called  on  the  Vice-Consul 
for  Belgium,  Mr.  Staedlier,  who  had  not  long 
returned  from  his  trip.  He  repeated  and  con- 
firmed, more  or  less,  what  I  had  read  of  his  journey 
in  the  papers,  and  said  the  Indians  would  never 
permit  anyone  to  cross  the  River  Challana,  let 
alone  go  to  Paroma,  and  he  strongly  advised  me 
to  abandon  the  trip. 

Before  leaving  La  Paz  I  also  went  to  see 
Sanchez,  a  Spaniard,  who  had  been  supplying  the 
Indians  of  Challana  with  rifles  and  ammunition, 
and  receiving  payment  in  rubber,  till  the  authori- 
ties caught  him  and  Villavicencia  and  imprisoned 
them  in  La  Paz;  but,  after  a  year,  the  gaol  was 
attacked  one  night,  and  the  prisoners  escaped. 
Villavicencia  got  back  to  Challana,  but  Sanchez, 
who  was  suffering  with  his  chest,  was  recaptured 
on  his  way  to  Sorata,  and  again  imprisoned.  He 
was  eventually  released  on  payment  of  a  big  fine 
to  the  Government,  on  condition  that  he  promised 
not  to  do  any  more  gun-running,  and  reported 
himself  once  a  month  to  the  officials  in  La  Paz. 
He  said  he  would  communicate  with  the  Indians 
through  Villarde,  to  whom  he  would  explain  my 


26  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

object  in  going  in,  and  he  sent  off  one  of  his  In- 
dians with  a  message  to  him.  He  advised  me  to 
go  in  by  way  of  the  Tipuani,  instead  of  the  Tongo, 
and  told  me  that  Mrs.  Villa vicencia,  Villarde's 
sister,  lived  at  Sorata,  and  that  it  would  be  policy 
to  go  and  see  her  on  the  way,  which  I  decided  to  do. 

At  last  I  was  ready  to  start.  I  bought  a  good, 
strong  mule  to  carry  me,  hired  three  others  and 
two  Indians  from  I^a  Paz  to  carry  my  provisions 
and  gear,  and  started  off  with  my  old  groom, 
Miguel  Cadez. 

I  had  everything  ready  to  make  a  start  on  the 
Tuesday,  only  to  find  that  no  amount  of  persuasion 
could  induce  the  Indians  to  leave  on  that  day.  It 
appears  that  they  have  strong  superstitious  objec- 
tions to  starting  on  a  Tuesday,  like  many  sailors 
who  object  to  setting  sail  on  a  Friday. 

However,  the  next  day  we  started,  and  M. 
Guibert,  Major  Holt,  the  manager  of  the  Chicago 
Bolivian  Rubber  Company,  the  Argentine  Mini- 
ster, Senor  Cabral,  a  few  Bolivians,  and  many 
other  English  and  Americans,  came  over  to  bid 
me  God-speed,  and  wish  me  luck. 

As  is  my  usual  custom,  we  travelled  slowly,  so 
as  not  to  knock  up  the  men  and  animals.  After 
ascending  the  long  hill  to  La  Paz  Alto,  12,500ft. 
up,  we  marclied  along  the  high  flats  to  a  place 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  27 

called  Acacache,  which  consists  of  two  huts  of 
mud  and  stone,  one  of  them  a  rest-house,  where  I 
stopped  for  the  night  in  a  room  with  a  mud  floor 
and  a  mud  bed  built  up  about  three  feet  off  the 
ground.  The  owner  of  the  huts  was  an  old 
Colonel,  who  had  fought  in  the  war  with  Chili 
and  afterwards  in  the  revolution.  Unfortunately 
for  him,  he  had  backed  the  wrong  horse,  supporting 
Alonso  instead  of  Pa^do,  and  as  all  his  property 
had  been  confiscated  after  the  revolution  except 
this  farm  he  had  had  to  retire  up  here.  From 
him  I  bought  a  supply  of  barley  in  the  straw, 
sufiicient  for  the  mules,  and  a  sheep  for  myself 
and  the  boy,  which  the  Indians  killed  and  skinned 
in  return  for  the  inside  except  the  kidneys.  After 
skinning  it,  they  rubbed  in  salt  and  hung  it  out  to 
freeze  during  the  night.  In  this  way  meat  will 
keep  quite  well  in  these  altitudes,  if  the  carcase  is 
also  protected  from  the  sun  during  the  daytime.  I 
also  bought  enough  potatoes  and  eschalots  to  make 
a  good  stew  for  every  one.  Indian  mule  men  and 
porters  are  always  supposed  to  feed  themselves, 
and  they  generally  carry  a  good  supply  of  parched 
corn,  meal  and  frozen  potatoes,  which  they  call 
chuno,  and  which  is  not  bad  in  a  stew  when  you 
can't  get  the  real  thing.  They  also  carry  a  supply 
of  coca  leaves,  which  they  suck  all  day  long  on  the 

4 


28  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

road,  and  very  often  cocoa  slabs  as  well;  without 
these,  no  Indian  in  Bolivia  would  dream  of  tra- 
veUing.  Still,  I  have  always  made  a  practice  of 
cooking  enough  food  to  leave  a  fair  amount  in  the 
pot  for  them,  and  in  consequence,  unhke  many 
other  travellers  who  have  written  of  their  ex- 
periences, I  never  had  any  bother  with  them. 

After  a  good  dinner,  and  a  most  enjoyable  cup 
of  Yungas  coffee,t  I  went  out  to  see  that  the 
mules  were  still  feeding.  It  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  look  into  these  small  matters  yourself,  for  in 
some  places  the  seller  of  fodder  is  quite  capable  of 
taking  the  stuff  away  from  the  animals,  and  then 
swearing  they  have  already  eaten  it.  I  never 
think  of  turning  in  until  after  10  p.m.,  so  that  I 
can  be  sure  my  beasts  have  had  a  good  fill. 

Next  morning,  after  an  early  cup  of  coffee,  I 
went  out  at  6.30  to  see  that  the  mules  had  the  rest 
of  the  barley  which  had  been  put  aside  for  them, 
and  then  took  a  bathe  in  the  pond  close  by,  which 
still  had  a  fair  coating  of  ice  over  it,  except  round 
the  edges,  which  were  always  kept  broken  for  the 
animals.  The  old  Colonel  was  astounded  when 
he  saw  me  bathing,  and  said  that  if  he  did  such  a 
thing  as  have  a  cold  bath  it  would  kill  him,  to 

t  This  coffee,  grown  in  the  Yungas  Valley,  near  La  Paz,  is  famous  all  over 
the  world  for  its  excellence  and  flavour.  It  should  be  toasted  with  sugar  and 
ground  up  the  same  day;  when  mixed  half  and  half  with  Costa  Rica,  it  is  hard 
to  beat. 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  29 

which  I  repHed  :  "  Not  at  all,  so  long  as  you  can 
dry  yourself  afterwards  in  a  beautiful  hot  sun  like 
this."  I  am  certain  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  leave 
off  your  morning  bathe  in  these  altitudes,  and  I 
have  never  done  so. 

Breakfast  consisted  of  bacon  and  eggs,  tea  and 
wholesome  bread  made  in  the  Bolivian  fashion. 
The  Bolivians  always  crush  the  best  wheat  with 
stone  mills,  and  in  this  way  all  the  best  quality  of 
the  corn  is  preserved  in  the  flour,  instead  of  being 
lost,  as  it  is  in  the  newfangled  process  of  machine- 
crushing. 

After  saying  good-bye  to  the  Colonel,  who 
made  me  promise  to  come  and  see  him  again,  I 
started  off  at  nine  o'clock,  my  usual  hour  for 
morning  camp  at  these  heights;  for  by  then  the 
sun  has  had  time  to  warm  up  the  backs  and  pack- 
blankets  of  the  mules.  In  my  opinion,  the  chief 
reasons  why  travellers  so  often  find  their  animals' 
backs  galled  and  sore  are,  first,  that  they  invariably 
start  before  the  gear  is  properly  cleaned  and  dried 
by  the  sun,  and  second,  that  their  mule  packs  are 
far  too  heavy  and  cumbersome.  My  own  equip- 
ment consisted  of  plenty  of  blankets,  two  broad 
thick  pads  made  of  straw  and  soft  Capincha  leather 
to  cover  each,  and  a  broad  strap  made  of  the  same 
leather  to  join  the  two  together.     I  seldom  had 


/X>'^' 


30  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

trouble  with  my  animals,  and  I  think  these  reasons 
had  much  to  do  with  it. 

As  I  rode  along  over  the  high  flats  on  an  easy- 
paced  mule,  in  the  finest  atmosphere  in  the  world, 
the  blue  sky  above  my  head,  behind  me  the  mag- 
nificent view  of  the  pyramid-shaped  Yllimani 
mountains,  and  in  front  the  lofty  peaks  of  Sorata 
and  the  Ylliapo,  with  the  whole  extent  of  the 
immense  inland  sea  of  Titicaca  spread  below  me, 
I  thought  that  nothing  could  be  more  wonderful. 
As  on  the  day  before,  we  passed  hundreds  of  llamas, 
each  with  the  load  of  50  to  75lbs.  that  they  are 
accustomed  to  carry  on  journeys  over  the  flats. 
The  llamas  are  of  all  colours,  from  pure  white  to 
black  and  white,  brown  or  yellow ;  beside  them 
walk  the  little  Indians  in  shirt  and  coloured  pants ; 
red  and  yellow,  and  black  and  grey  seem  to  be  the 
favourite  colours.  They  are  all  barefooted,  and 
each  one  carries  his  *'  poncho,"  which  is  a  rug  of 
guanaco  or  vicuna-skin  with  a  hole  cut  in  the 
centre  for  the  head  to  go  through ;  vicuna-skin  is 
much  the  most  expensive  and  is  only  worn  by  the 
well-to-do.  The  Indians  always  take  their  wives 
out  with  them  on  all  their  trips,  and  sometimes 
they  are  accompanied  by  all  their  women;  for  an 
j  Indian  may  marry  as  many  women  as  he  can 
j  afford  to  keep  during  his  life  and  provide  for  after 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  31 

his  death. t  Before  he  can  marry,  he  must  first  of 
all  provide  for  each  wife  a  hut  or  materials  for 
building  one,  corn  and  meal  for  one  year,  seed  for 
the  next,  the  owner  finding  oxen,  ploughs,  water 
for  irrigation  purposes,  if  necessary,  and  land, 
usually  on  the  share  system,  also  grazing  for  his 
llamas.  Most  Indians  have  a  few  llamas,  and  some 
have  large  herds ;  there  are  no  wild  llamas,  for,  in 
the  time  of  the  Jesuits,  Peru,  as  Bolivia  was  then, 
made  a  law  that  all  these  animals  were  the  private 
property  of  the  Indians.  I  once  met  a  German 
who  told  me  that  while  he  was  visiting  Lake 
Titicaca  he  went  out  shooting  and,  among  other 
things,  killed  five  of  these  harmless  animals;  but 
when  he  got  back  to  La  Paz  he  found  that  the 
Indian  owner  had  complained,  and  he  had  to  pay 
seventeen  dollars  for  each.  Of  course  I  told  him 
it  served  him  right,  as  he  ought  to  have  known, 
and  they  were  no  good  to  him  in  any  case.  I  also 
told  him  of  another  German,  a  first-rate  shot,  who, 
when  we  were  on  a  guanaco  and  vicuna  hunting 
trip  with  dogs  and  rifles,  actually  shot  and  killed  a 
wild  donkey ! 

At  about  five  in  the  afternoon  we  put  up  for  the 
night  just  outside  a  place  called  Machacamarca, 

t  N.B.— This  is  one  of  the  old  Inca  Laws,  and  still  in  force  with  all  Indians 
who  are  colonials,  that  is,  who  belong  to  an  Estanciero,  and  work  for  him  on 
shares. 


32  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

not  far  from  Lake  Titicaca,  paying  the  usual  2/- 
a  night  for  the  use  of  a  room  with  a  mud  bed  and 
fireplace,  and  finding  food,  firewood  and  other 
necessaries  ourselves.  Fowls,  potatoes,  barley  and 
fresh  eggs  can  always  be  bought  at  these  places. 
At  this  altitude  it  takes  seven  minutes  to  boil  an 
egg,  at  15,000ft.  it  takes  even  nine  to  ten  minutes. 
I  arranged  to  rent  the  accommodation  here  for 
two  days  and  bought  a  double  supply  of  barley 
fodder  for  the  mules,  so  that  I  should  have  a  little 
time  to  walk  along  the  shore  of  this  magnificent 
lake  and  shoot  a  duck  or  two  for  a  change. 

Lake  Titicaca  is  full  of  fish,  mostly  pejerey, 
about  twelve  to  fourteen  inches  long,  and  very 
good  to  eat.  Many  of  the  Aymara  Indians  who 
live  on  the  shores  of  the  lake,  besides  growing 
barley,  planting  potatoes  and  looking  after  llamas, 
alpacas  and  sheep,  do  a  good  deal  of  fishing  with 
their  small  nets  from  balsas  made  of  reeds 
that  are  practically  unsinkable.  They  take  the 
fish  twice  a  week  into  La  Paz,  Sorata,  Machaca- 
marca  and  other  places,  and  sell  it  there.  I  bathed 
several  times  in  the  lake,  but  the  water  was  too 
cold  to  remain  in  long.  There  are  geese  and  duck 
to  be  shot  on  the  banks  near  the  shore,  and  on 
either  side  of  the  lake  are  stretches  of  flat  lands 
covered  with  coarse  grass  and  low  bushes.     Once 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  33 

a  year  there  is  a  big  fair  of  llamas,  alpacas,  sheep 
and  little  mules  and  horses  held  by  the  lake  on  the 
Peru-Bolivia  frontier;  another  big  yearly  fair  is 
held  at  a  place  called  Juare,  a  few  hours  away  on 
the  Oruro-Antofogasta  line.  This  fair  starts  on 
April  7th,  and  lasts  a  whole  fortnight;  all  the 
Indians  come  from  miles  around  to  attend  it,  and 
mules  are  brought  to  it  all  the  way  from  the 
Argentine.     I  always  bought  my  mules  there. 

I  shot  some  wild  duck  and  some  geese  by  the 
lake ;  the  duck  are  good,  but  the  geese  are  very 
coarse.  I  also  shot  a  guanaco  for  my  Indians; 
its  meat  is  very  rank,  and  to  my  mind  most  dis- 
agreeable, but  the  Indians  seemed  to  enjoy  it. 

After  spending  a  day  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Titicaca,  I  went  on  next  day  to  Sorata,  a  little 
town  lying  in  the  valley  of  that  name  below  the 
Ylliapo  range,  8,000ft.  high,  and  some  ninety  miles 
from  La  Paz.  There  I  was  put  up  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gunther,  who  were  most  hospitable.  Gun- 
ther  is  a  large  rubber  buyer  with  plenty  of  capital, 
and  the  owner  of  a  big  rubber  estate,  also  of  the 
largest  store  in  Sorata  and  the  principal  brewery 
in  Arequipa.  Both  he  and  his  wife  did  their  ut- 
most to  persuade  me  not  to  continue  my  journey. 
The  first  night  I  was  there,  Mrs.  Gunther  told  me 
that  Mrs.  Villa vicencia,  who  lived  opposite,  had 


84  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

seen  me  get  off  my  mule  at  their  house,  and  had 
said  to  the  Gunthers'  cook  who  happened  to  be 
over  there  at  the  time  :  "  Do  you  see  that  big 
Enghshman  who  has  just  arrived?  He  thinks  he 
is  going  to  get  to  Paroma  to  spy  on  the  Indians  of 
Challana  and  report  to  the  Government  at  La  Paz. 
Tell  him  they  will  never  permit  him  to  cross  the 
river,  and  that  if  he  persists  they  will  attack  him 
and  kill  him." 

When  I  heard  this,  I  asked  Gunther  to  intro- 
duce me  to  the  good  lady,  which  he  did  next  day ; 
he  just  presented  me  and  then  left  us  to  talk  to- 
gether, and  I  converged  with  her  for  two  hours. 
I  told  her  my  object  in  undertaking  this  journey, 
explained  to  her  the  proposal  I  was  going  to  make 
to  the  Indians,  and  begged  her  to  send  one  of  her 
men  to  her  brother  Villarde,  asking  him  to  get  the 
necessary  permission  for  me  from  the  Cacique  to 
cross  their  border  and  visit  him  at  Paroma.  She 
told  me  to  come  back  and  see  her  the  next  after- 
noon, and  she  would  let  me  know  then  what  she 
could  do.  That  night  at  dinner  Mrs.  Gunther 
said  to  me  :  ^'  I  don't  know  what  you  have  been 
doing,  but  you  seem  to  have  made  a  very  good 
impression  on  Villarde 's  sister ;  she  says  you  talked 
with  her  and  treated  her  quite  differently  from  all 
the  others  who  have  been  to  see  her  about  visiting 


LAKE  TITICACA,  LA  PAZ  &  SORATA  35 

Villarde,  and  the  old  chief  at  Paroma,  and  she  has 
actually  decided  to  send  a  messenger  for  you  to 
her  brother." 

Next  day,  as  arranged,  I  called  on  Mrs.  Villa- 
vicencia,  who  received  me  in  a  most  friendly  way. 
She  told  me  she  was  sending  a  letter  on  my  behalf 
to  her  brother,  Villarde,  by  the  hand  of  an  Indian 
whose  home  was  near  Paroma.  She  said  her 
brother  had  been  made  a  chief  by  the  Cacique, 
and  was  also  at  that  time  interpreter  for  the  In- 
dians ;  her  husband  was  there  too,  working  under 
Villarde.  She  advised  me  to  let  the  Indian  have 
a  fortnight's  start  in  case  her  brother  was  away 
when  he  arrived. 

Gunther  insisted  upon  my  spending  the  fort- 
night with  him  and  his  pretty  wife,  which  was  very 
nice  of  him.  While  I  was  at  Sorata  I  used  to  go 
down  the  valley  every  day  and  admire  the  beautiful 
big  cacti  that  grow  everywhere  about  there,  in  all 
colours  from  pure  white  to  dark  purple  and  bright 
red ;  also  the  brilliant  single  and  double  fuchsias, 
which  are  much  larger  than  any  to  be  seen  at  home. 
This  valley  is  full,  too,  of  rubber  vine,  a  plant  that 
yields  an  inferior  kind  of  milk. 

Most  of  the  Indians  living  hereabouts  are 
Aymara,  and  own  sheep  and  llamas.  There  are 
some    large   estancias    (ranches)    owned    by    rich 


36  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Bolivians  who  spend  most  of  their  time  in  La  Paz, 
leaving  their  farms  in  charge  of  a  manager, 
generally  a  half-caste,  with  some  Indian  shepherds 
under  him.  Sheep  do  well,  and  give  6lbs.  to 
lOlbs.  of  wool  a  head,  and  50lbs.  to  60lbs.  of  meat, 
good  mutton  and  cheap,  costing  only  4/-  to  5/- 
the  head  when  the  wool  is  off.  Alpacas  also  do 
well  in  this  district;  they  prefer  the  flat  ground 
nearer  the  lake,  while  the  sheep  roam  the  hills  and 
higher  slopes.  The  sheep  are  tended  by  Indian 
women,  who  sit  near  them  in  sunny  places  or  walk 
among  them  with  wooden  spindles  yarning  skeins 
of  wool  which  they  pluck  from  time  to  time  off 
the  sheep's  back.  Many  of  these  women  make 
excellent  socks  and  stockings  out  of  this  worsted 
spurn,  which  they  have  a  special  way  of  treating. 
I  have  bought  several  pairs  and  always  found  them 
far  more  durable  and  better  in  every  way  than  any 
I  have  paid  good  prices  for  in  England;  indeed, 
I  am  never  without  them  if  I  can  help  it.  The 
Indian  women  sell  them  in  sheep  and  llama  wool 
at  2/-  a  pair ;  they  also  make  them  of  vicuna  wool, 
but  these  are  more  expensive,  and  run  to  4/-  or  5/- 
the  pair. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  PEAK  OF  SORATA  AND  TIQUIRIPAGA 

THE  day  after  Christmas  we  left  Sorata, 
I    on    my    sturdy    saddle    mule,    two 
Indians   of   the    Aymara    breed,   with 
three  other  mules  I  hired  for  carrying 
the  provisions  and  baggage,  and  my  man  Miguel, 
who  walked. 

The  day  was  fine,  with  a  lovely  blue  sky,  and  as 
we  marched  up  the  long  steep  Ylliapo  Mountain 
we  could  see  the  magnificent  Peak  of  Sorata  in  the 
distance.  Before  we  started,  Mrs.  Gunther  had 
said  to  me  :  "I  shall  expect  to  see  you  back  to- 
morrow night ;  for  when  you  see  the  awful  climb 
ahead,  and  find  that  the  mules  will  not  be  able  to 
continue  the  journey,  I  am  convinced  you  will  have 
to  turn  back."  The  path  was  fairly  good,  but 
only  wide  enough  for  us  to  go  in  Indian  file ;  the 
cargo  animals  walked  in  front  and  the  two  Indians 

37 


88  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

and  myself  brought  up  the  rear.  We  were  now 
passing  through  a  forest  of  small  trees  and  bushes, 
profusely  covered  with  bright  flowers  indigenous  to 
the  temperate  zone,  such  as  roses,  daisies,  butter- 
cups and  fuchsias.  The  luxuriant  bushes  and 
geraniums  and  fuchsias  were  especially  fine.  Every 
now  and  then  we  met  Aymaras  with  troops  of 
llamas  coming  down  the  slope,  each  with  their  load 
of  50lbs.  When  we  passed,  the  Indians  always 
stopped  their  llamas  and  cornered  them  in  any 
available  space  to  allow  us  to  go  by,  and  they  one 
and  all  bid  us  a  very  civil  good  day.  I  have  always 
been  given  to  understand  that  when  they  greet 
one  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  they  are  of  a  friendly  dis- 
position, but  when  they  pass  without  paying  any 
attention  it  is  not  a  good  sign,  and  means  that  you 
should  proceed  with  care. 

It  is  also  common  knowledge  that  when  travellers 
pass  through  a  native  village  and  find  all  the  doors 
shut,  it  means,  *'  Go  on,  don't  stop  here,  we  wish 
to  have  nothing  to  do  with  you,"  and  it  is  then 
prudent  to  go  on  further.  This  I  have  proved 
several  times,  as  when  I  have  pulled  up  at  any  of 
these  huts,  which  often  have  some  one  inside 
although  they  are  shut  up,  and  asked  them  to  sell 
me  some  barley  for  the  animals  or  fowls,  the  reply 
has  always  been  :  "  No,  we  have  nothing,"  in  spite 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  39 

of  the  fowls  I  saw  running  about,  and  big  stacks  of 
barley  straw  piled  up  everywhere. 

I  have  often  heard  and  read  of  prospectors  pass- 
ing these  habitations,  who  have  received  that  reply, 
and  nevertheless  proceed  to  knock  over  a  few  fowls 
and  help  themselves  to  the  amount  of  barley  straw 
they  need,  leaving  payment  at  the  usual  current 
rate  on  the  doorstep ;  but  this,  in  my  opinion,  is 
not  at  all  a  good  plan.  Some  travellers  have  been 
known  not  to  leave  any  payment  at  all,  and  that 
has  occasionally  led  to  trouble.  If  a  village  is  found 
with  no  inhabitants  to  be  seen,  but  with  some  of 
the  doors  open,  it  means  :  "  We  are  willing  to  sell 
you  what  you  want,  if  we  have  it,  but  prefer  you 
to  camp  outside  our  village."  When  doors  are 
open,  and  a  few  men  and  women  are  about,  it 
signifies  :  ''  We  are  ready  to  sell  you  what  you 
want,  and  you  are  cordially  welcome  to  stop  in  the 
village  as  long  as  you  like."  Then  the  usual  thing 
is  to  ask  for  an  empty  hut,  which  is  willingly 
offered,  generally  one  of  the  best  they  have  got, 
for  one  shilling  a  day,  and  you  get  another  corral 
and  shelter  for  your  mules  and  men  for  another 
shilling.  I  have  nearly  always  been  fortunate  in 
finding  the  latter,  and  have  sometimes  stayed  like 
this  for  months  on  end  in  a  village  while  prospect- 
ing and  examining  old  mines  close  by. 


40  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

After  marching  for  about  three  hours,  we  had 
occasional  hailstorms,  but  they  did  not  last  for 
more  than  half  an  hour  or  so,  and  it  was  quickly 
fine  again.  These  hailstorms  marked  the  begin- 
ning of  the  rains  in  the  forests  and  snow  and  hail  in 
the  mountains  on  this  side.  Up  to  about  11,000ft. 
we  passed  a  few  stray  huts  made  of  stone.  Some- 
times I  saw  a  red  flag  flying  on  a  long  pole  beside  a 
hut,  which  means  that  chicha,  a  refreshing  drink 
made  from  corn,  is  to  be  had  there.  At  another 
would  be  a  white  flag,  which  is  meant  to  show 
travellers  that  fresh  meat  could  be  bought  there. 
After  12,000ft.  to  13,000ft.  it  got  very  cold,  and 
no  other  hut  was  to  be  seen  except  one  or  two 
isolated  huts  belonging  to  Indian  shepherds  tend- 
ing sheep  or  llamas. 

At  5  p.m.  we  reached  a  height  of  15,000ft.  (by 
my  aneroid).  The  sun  had  disappeared  behind  the 
mountain,  and  it  was  getting  dark,  so  we  decided 
to  stop.  I  gave  the  Aymara  shepherds  a  drink  of 
rum  each,  and  they  hired  a  stone  hut  for  my  use, 
another  smaller  one  for  the  m^and  the  cooking, 
and  a  corral  for  the  mules,  for  2/-,  the  usual  price 
for  accommodation  in  these  parts.  I  exchanged 
some  coca  and  matches  for  some  eschalots,  pota- 
toes and  eggs  ;  I  make  it  a  rule  never  to  trade  strong 
drink  with  the  natives  anywhere,  and  it  would  be 
a  good  thing  if  all  South  America  would  do  the 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  41 

same  as  Guiana  does,  that  is,  prohibit  the  sale  of 
rum  to  the  Indians. 

The  mules  had  carried  their  own  fodder  for  the 
day's  journey,  as  we  knew  that  none  was  to  be  had 
on  the  way.  There  was  plenty  of  long,  coarse  grass 
a  little  way  down  the  mountain,  and  the  careful 
Indians  took  them  there  to  feed  for  two  hours  as 
soon  as  they  got  the  gear  off,  while  Miguel  and  I 
prepared  the  supper.  The  thermometer  registered 
6  below  zero  inside  the  hut,  at  8  p.m.,  but  that  was 
soon  altered  when  I  had  a  lot  of  embers  brought 
in  and  the  door  well  closed. 

Next  morning,  after  a  cold  bath  and  a  good 
breakfast,  I  started  off  at  9.30  a.m. 

There  are  two  paths  over  the  mountains,  one  by 
a  pass  of  16,000ft.,  and  the  other  by  one  of 
17,000ft.  I  chose  the  latter,  for  the  reason  that  it 
was  quite  close  to  the  Peak  of  Sorata ;  in  fact,  not 
many  yards  from  the  top  of  this  pass.  To  the  left, 
on  the  way  up,  was  a  rough,  natural  kind  of  shelter, 
where  Sir  Martin  Conway  had  made  his  last  camp 
on  his  expedition  to  try  to  reach  the  summit  of 
Sorata. 

In  his  report.  Sir  Martin  said  that  he  could  not 
manage  to  get  to  the  top,  and  he  did  not  think 
anybody  ever  had,  and  thought  it  doubtful  if  any- 
body ever  would.    He  estimated  the  height  of  the 


42  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

mountain  at  23,500ft.,  and  based  his  opinion  on 
the  fact  that  he  was  carrying  the  same  instruments 
as  he  had  used  in  his  successful  cHmb  to  the  top  of 
Aconcagua,  when  he  found  the  height  to  be 
22,500ft.  Going  up  Sorata,  his  instruments  ceased 
to  mark,  and  he  calculated  there  was  still  another 
1,000ft.  to  go. 

Yet  another  reason  for  my  taking  this  pass  and 
climbing  the  extra  1,000ft.  was  that,  not  far  from 
the  top  at  16,200ft.  by  the  aneroid,  a  little  way  off 
to  the  right  in  a  hollow,  lies  a  small  lake  where 
tradition  says,  and  the  Indians  firmly  believe,  that 
some  of  the  great  Inca  treasure  was  thrown  when 
Pizarro  had  Atahualpa  murdered. 

We  passed  this  small  lake  at  about  11  a.m.  I 
had  been  told  that  about  two  years  previously  a 
Company  had  proposed  to  drain  this  lake,  which 
could  easily  be  done  with  the  labour  of  Aymara 
Indians  and  the  necessary  provisions.  The  head  of 
the  Company  offered  the  Government  a  deposit  of 
£20,000  as  a  guarantee  that  they  meant  business, 
which  the  Government  was  to  return  after  they  had 
let  out  the  water,  whether  there  was  anything  there 
or  not ;  whatever  they  discovered  at  the  bottom  was 
to  be  divided  between  themselves  and  the  Govern- 
ment. The  authorities  thought  the  proposition  a 
very  good  one,  but  the  reason  it  was  never  under- 


SOMK    NATIVE    TVl'KS    >KKN     IN     I 
IM'ERIOR    OF    BOLIVIA 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  48 

taken  before  was  that  they  feared  a  rising  of  the 
vast  Indian  population  would  take  place;  indeed, 
it  might  have  caused  a  general  rising  of  the  Indians 
throughout  America,  from  Mexico  to  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  and  the  biggest  massacre  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  and  this  was  why  they  refused  consent. 
Evidently,  many  people  think  there  is  truth  in  the 
legend  that  some  of  the  lost  Inca  treasure  is  still  in 
existence.  It  is  also  a  well  authenticated  fact  that 
some  few  years  ago  an  American  Company  had  the 
idea  of  looking  for  the  immense  Inca  chain,  formed 
of  links  of  gold,  of  1  kilo  each,  which  was  to  have 
been  part  of  Atahualpa's  ransom.  It  is  believed 
by  many  that  the  chain  was  cast  into  the  Lake 
Titicaca,  near  the  sacred  Island  of  Tia  Guanaco. 
They  eventually  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
water  was  far  too  deep,  and  no  proposition  was 
ever  made.  Up  to  now  this  chain  and  nearly  all 
the  treasure  of  the  Inca  still  remains  hidden. 

On  the  top  of  the  pass  is  a  cairn  of  stones,  placed 
there  by  the  Indians  to  mark  the  spot.  On  the 
way  up  we  passed,  at  different  places,  a  lonely 
grave  of  stones  and  a  wooden  cross,  showing  where 
some  poor  chap  had  passed  away.  Nearly  all  the 
morning  the  weather  was  a  constant  succession  of 
bitterly  cold  wind  and  hail,  and  then  a  spell  of  hot 
sunshine.    Often  I  found  it  too  steep  in  places  for 

5 


44  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

my  mule  to  carry  me,  and  then  I  removed  my 
thick  poncho  and  walked.  I  noticed  that  during 
the  constant  bHzzards  my  Aymaras,  to  prevent 
frostbite,  put  on  their  vicuna  face  protectors, 
which  just  left  holes  for  eyes,  nostrils  and  mouth. 
I  always  made  my  man  put  on  his,  and  I  did  the 
same. 

On  the  top  and  for  a  thousand  feet  before  get- 
ting there,  nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  snow. 
There  was  no  vegetation  of  any  sort,  and  not  a 
single  bush  or  bird.  About  half  an  hour  after  leav- 
ing the  shepherds'  hut  in  the  morning,  I  shot  a 
female  condor  eagle  with  my  large  Winchester 
rifle,  but,  although  it  was  a  fine,  large  specimen,  I 
was  forced  to  leave  it  behind,  because  there  was 
really  no  room  on  the  cargo  mules  to  carry  it.  I 
wanted  to  wait  an  hour  or  more  to  skin  it,  but  the 
Indians  said  the  delay  of  nearly  two  hours  might  be 
dangerous  at  this  height  and  at  this  season  of  the 
year,  and  we  might  yet  be  caught  in  a  blinding 
snowstorm  and  get  benighted ;  if  we  had  been  re- 
turning now,  and  going  downhill  to  the  shepherds' 
hut,  they  said  they  would  have  been  able  to  carry  it 
down  beween  them.     It  was  a  great  pity. 

We  got  to  Tiquiripaga  at  3.30  p.m.  My 
Aymaras  took  us  to  the  house,  or  rather  the  hut,  of 
the  head  mau,  who  kindly  gave  me  ^  hut  and  the 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  45 

use  of  a  shed  for  cooking,  for  1/-  a  day.  This  man 
was  about  60,  tall  and  active,  and  was  always  very 
civil  to  me.  He  had  two  wives  much  younger  than 
himself,  one  of  them  not  at  all  bad  looking ;  they 
were  both  very  good  to  me,  and  could  not  have 
treated  me  better  all  the  time  that  I  was  there  with 
them.  The  day  after  I  arrived,  the  old  man  told 
me  I  had  better  return  to  Sorata  with  the  mules, 
as  it  was  a  long  w^ay  and  the  roads  were  very  rough, 
and  down  in  the  forest  it  was  so  hot  that  none  of 
his  tribe  was  ever  able  to  live  there.  In  fact,  he 
said  that  when  they  went  down  to  exchange  chal- 
lonas  and  salt  and  flour  for  cocoa,  coca  and  tobacco, 
it  was  always  arranged  between  the  parties  that  at 
certain  times  of  the  year  the  forest  Indians  would 
march  up  to  a  meeting  place  in  a  clearing  in  the 
forest  near  the  River  Tipuani,  some  two  days' 
march  from  Gritada,  the  first  hut  on  the  river  bank, 
and  there  do  the  exchanging,  the  mountain  men 
returning  to  their  homes  on  the  Ylliapo  Range, 
and  the  forest  Indians  down  again  to  the  Tipuani, 
Beni  and  other  tributaries  of  the  Amazon. 

The  old  man  also  stated  that  the  path  from  now 
on  was  in  places  so  narrow  that  nothing  larger  than 
a  very  small  mule  or  llama  could  travel,  and  then 
only  in  single  file.  So  that  I  should  have  to  con- 
tinue on  foot  for  the  rest  of  the  journey  down,  be- 


46  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

sides  which  the  Indians  of  Challana  would  allow  no- 
body to  enter  their  country  unless  the  Cacique 
ordered  them  to  do  so,  and  nobody  had  ever  been 
able  to  enter  without  his  permission.  When  I  told 
him  that  Villarde's  sister,  Mrs.  Villavicencia,  had 
sent  in  a  messenger  a  fortnight  ago,  he  at  once  said 
he  could  hire  me  some  llamas,  and  he  would  go  with 
us  himself  as  far  as  this  side  of  the  Toro  River ;  on 
the  other  side,  we  should  find  a  few  families  of  In- 
dians living  in  the  forest,  and  a  coffee  estate  owned 
by  a  man  I  met  at  Sorata,  also  a  man  who  owned 
two  small  mules,  which  I  would  very  likely  be  able 
to  hire  with  Indian  carriers  to  continue  the  journey 
as  far  as  the  Tipuani  River.  The  proprietor  of  this 
coffee  estate,  a  man  called  Solis,  had  already  given 
me  a  letter  to  his  manager,  a  half-bred  Indian. 
The  old  Indian  arranged  to  go  with  me,  with  one 
of  his  wives,  and  two  of  his  sons,  and  got  me  15 
llamas  for  7  bols  a  llama,  about  14/-  a  head,  each 
animal  to  carry  35lbs.,  and  we  arranged  never  to 
start  before  9  a.m.  each  day,  and  to  camp  every 
afternoon  between  3  and  4  p.m.,  resting  the 
animals  for  half  an  hour  at  midday.  He  said  the 
reason  he  could  not  allow  his  llamas  to  go  further 
down  was  that  it  would  be  too  hot  for  the  beasts, 
and,  besides,  it  was  the  rainy  season  in  the  forest 
and  they  would  not  be  able  to  cross  the  Toro  River ; 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  47 

I  myself  would  have  to  be  pulled  over  on  a 
maroma  or  wire  cable,  which  is  placed  there  by  the 
Government  for  the  benefit  of  passengers  to  and 
from  the  Tipuani.  He  told  me  if  that  arrange- 
ment would  suit  me  he  could  start  in  ten  days' 
time,  not  sooner,  as  his  animals  had  only  just  re- 
turned from  La  Paz,  where  they  had  been  with 
cargo;  meanwhile  I  could  have  this  stone  hut  for 
myself,  and  another  smaller  one  for  my  man 
Miguel,  and  a  kitchen  for  1/-  a  day;  he  would  let 
me  have  as  many  fowls  as  I  wanted  for  1/-  each, 
guinea-pigs  at  1/-,  eggs  at  1/-  a  dozen,  and  sheep 
at  4/-,  the  skin  to  be  returned  to  him ;  I  also  used 
to  give  him  the  inside  excepting  the  kidneys; 
eschalots  for  3d.  a  bunch  of  twenty,  and  all  the 
potatoes  I  wanted  at  6d.  a  measure,  which  is  equal 
to  a  big  basketful. 

I  accepted  this  offer  and  the  next  day  despatched 
the  hired  mules  and  my  saddle  mule  back  to  Sorata, 
after  they  had  eaten  a  good  fill  of  barley.  At  8 
a.m.  I  paid  the  muleteers  their  due  and  gave  them 
a  small  gratuity  each,  and  some  coca  leaves  to  chew 
on  the  way.  They  were  profuse  with  their  thanks 
and  gratitude,  and  said  any  time  I  wanted  to 
employ  them  again  they  were  always  ready  to 
come. 

The  old  man  called  one  of  his  wives,  the  youngest 


48  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

one,  and  told  her  she  was  to  get  all  I  wanted  every 
day,  which  she  always  did.  He  took  me  to  another 
shed  which  was  full  of  long  dried  grass,  and  said  I 
could  use  as  much  of  it  as  I  liked  to  make  my  bed 
soft  to  lie  on ;  so  Miguel  and  I  got  a  whole  lot  and 
piled  it  up  three  feet  high  at  one  end  of  my  hut, 
and  fenced  it  round  with  big  stones,  placing  some 
sheepskins  on  top,  and  then  my  old  military  valise ; 
this  with  sheets  and  blankets  made  a  very  comfort- 
able bed.  I  told  Miguel  he  was  to  stay  in  camp  all 
the  time  to  look  after  everything,  and  he  was  to  be 
careful  to  have  lots  of  hot  ashes  always  ready  to 
keep  the  fire-hole  full  in  my  hut.  By  keeping  this 
up  and  leaving  the  door  open  all  day,  it  was  quite 
comfortable  at  night.  The  first  night,  before  the 
fire  warmed  it  up,  it  was  8  degrees  below  zero. 

Tiquiripaga  is  a  straggling  village,  about  half  a 
mile  in  circumference,  consisting  of  28  huts  and  a 
small  church,  which  is  always  open ;  a  priest  is  sup- 
posed to  make  his  round  periodically,  but  there  had 
been  none  now  for  two  years. 

The  huts  belonging  to  the  head  man  of  the 
village  were  all  built  of  stone,  on  a  fairly  flat  piece 
of  grass  ground  of  about  50  acres.  Yellow  and 
white  buttercups  and  daisies  grew  here  in  wild  pro- 
fusion, and  a  stream  ran  down  to  the  valley,  get- 
ting gradually  wider  and  deeper  as  it  wound  its  way 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  49 

through  the  forest  below.  The  water  was  frozen 
over  at  this  height,  with  pools  here  and  there, 
where  the  ice  was  kept  broken  by  the  inhabitants 
for  water.  Each  morning  at  7.30  I  used  to  go 
regularly  to  one  of  these  pools  for  my  bath. 

The  little  church  stood  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
lower  down  the  valley,  and  was  always  full  of  wild 
flowers,  newly  gathered  and  placed  about  the  steps 
and  the  altar.  I  noticed  that  no  traveller  ever 
passed  the  church  without  entering  to  say  a  prayer. 
It  snowed  or  hailed  several  times  a  day,  with  spells 
of  sunshine  in  between,  and  froze  hard  each  night ; 
the  mornings  were  generally  bright  and  sunny, 
until  about  10  or  11  a.m. ;  then  came  hail  or  snow, 
and  so  on,  throughout  the  day.  Behind  us  was  the 
mighty  Ylliapo  Mountain,  with  the  lofty  Peak  of 
Sorata  towering  in  lonely  grandeur  above  all,  white 
with  eternal  snow.  In  front  was  the  long  path 
winding  down  to  the  tropical  forest  below.  There 
were  many  woodcocks,  and  I  got  a  few.  I  also  saw 
a  good  many  condors,  with  their  white  collars, 
some  of  enormous  size ;  I  got  several  long  shots  at 
them  on  the  wing  with  my  rifle.  I  thought  I  hit 
one  or  two,  and  one  we  could  distinctly  see  had 
been  struck  on  the  tip  of  the  wing ;  the  head  man, 
Manuel,  said  it  was  sure  to  be  found  wounded,  and 
we  would  be  able  to  secure  it,  but  we  were  not 


50  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

lucky  enough  to  find  it.  The  eagles  have  to  take 
a  short  run  before  they  are  able  to  extend  their 
wings  and  launch  themselves  into  space,  and  once 
they  get  fairly  going  they  appear  to  sail  along  high 
up  in  the  sky  without  any  apparent  movement  of 
the  wings.  It  was  a  wonderful  sight  to  see  a  dozen 
or  more  of  these  enormous  eagles  all  soaring  along 
high  up  in  the  blue  sky  between  the  snow-capped 
mountains  above,  and  the  field  of  enormous  yellow 
buttercups  below,  with  huts  of  the  Indians  and  the 
little  church  all  standing  out  here  and  there  by 
themselves  in  lonely  spots,  and  llamas  of  all  colours 
feeding  with  the  hardy  mountain  sheep  on  the  hills. 

After  breakfast,  I  generally  took  the  gun  or  rifle, 
and  after  entering  the  church  for  a  few  minutes 
went  out  and  shot  a  woodcock  or  a  mountain  par- 
tridge, or  else  took  pot  shots  at  a  condor.  The 
days  passed  pleasantly  enough,  and  when  night 
came  I  had  a  good  dinner,  wrote  up  my  diary,  and 
slept  well  till  daylight. 

These  were  the  summer  months  on  this  side, 
during  which  there  is  alternate  snow  and  sunshine 
on  the  Andes,  and  heavy  rains  in  the  forest. 
Manuel  told  me  one  day  that  he  believed  treasure 
was  to  be  found  near  the  Peak  of  Sorata,  and  I 
heard  that  also  in  Sorata;  in  fact,  the  Indians 
nearly  all  claim  that  it  is  so,  but  nobody  has  ever 


PEAK  OF  SORATA  &  TIQUIRIPAGA  51 

yet  explored  there  for  it,  and  residents  in  Sorata 
say  that  the  natives  would  never  allow  anyone  to  do 
so.  Mrs.  Gunther  told  me  that  the  Indians  came 
in  thousands  to  watch  from  below  Sir  Martin 
Conway's  party  trying  to  ascend  the  peak,  and 
some  of  them  told  her  he  would  never  be  allowed 
to  remain  at  the  top  for  very  long,  even  if  he  got 
there.  She  said  they  claim  that  the  great  Image  of 
the  Sun  was  taken  there  and  buried  in  a  niche 
underneath  the  snow  not  far  from  the  top.  She 
knew  the  Aymara  language  well,  and  I  jotted  down 
several  sentences  and  words  in  that  language  from 
her  tuition  that  served  me  very  well. 

An  American  lady.  Miss  Annie  C.  Peak,  had 
also  tried  to  climb  the  mountain,  but  old  Manuel 
told  me  she  did  not  get  higher  than  the  top  of  the 
pass  which  I  crossed. 

At  the  end  of  the  ten  days,  old  Manuel  came  to 
me  at  8  a.m.,  just  as  I  was  returning  from  my 
morning  bath,  and  very  civilly  said  he  would  not  be 
able  to  make  a  start  the  next  day,  as  owing  to  the 
heavy  falls  of  snow  on  the  mountains  the  llamas 
had  to  be  driven  some  distance  off  to  get  their  fill 
of  grass,  so  he  asked  me  to  wait  on  some  days 
longer.  He  told  me  his  younger  wife  would  con- 
tinue to  attend  to  me,  and  begged  me  to  pay  him 
in  future  for  the  sheep  and  guinea-pigs  in  coca 


52  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

leaves,  instead  of  money,  to  which  I,  of  course, 
agreed. 

Mrs.  Manuel  was  a  very  good  hand  at  making 
extremely  savoury  stews  with  guinea-pigs,  and  now 
and  then  I  got  her  to  make  one.  Occasionally  I 
gave  Manuel  a  drink  of  gin  and  bitters,  which  he 
liked,  but  he  never  asked  for  one.  Before  I  had 
been  here  many  days  the  Mama  of  the  settlement 
had  been  to  see  me.  The  oldest  woman  in  the  place 
is  always  called  the  Mama,  and  if  you  make  a  good 
impression  on  her  you  get  along  well  with  the  whole 
lot.  This  old  woman  was  over  ninety,  and  looked 
it. 

Exactly  twenty-three  days  after  I  had  arrived 
here  Manuel  came  to  announce  that  he  would  be 
ready  to  make  a  move  next  day  at  9  a.m. 


CHAPTER  V 

OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS   TO  TIPUANI 

NEXT  morning  we  loaded  up  the  fifteen 
llamas,  amongst  other  things  with 
half  a  fresh  sheep  and  six  challonas. 
These  last  are  sheep  salted,  dried  and 
frozen,  which  keep  a  long  time.  All  cargo  was 
tied  on  with  ropes  made  of  llama  wool,  quite  the 
best  kind  of  rope  to  use  in  a  tropical  forest. 
Manuel  took  with  him  the  elder  of  his  two  wives 
and  one  of  his  sons,  a  boy  about  fourteen  or  fifteen. 
The  first  part  of  the  journey  was  all  easy  going 
and  downhill  all  the  way ;  after  the  first  two  hours, 
the  path  became  a  slush  of  melted  snow  and  the  air 
began  to  be  warmer.  We  saw  no  birds  and  scarcely 
any  trees  until  12.30,  when  we  reached  a  level  spot 
where  the  forest  started  on  either  side.  Here  we 
rested  for  half  an  hour,  without  taking  off  any  of 
the  cargo  except  a  billy  to  make  hot  water. 
Miguel  and  I  had  some  tea  and  a  scratch  meal  and 
gave  Manuel  and  the  others  some  coca  leaves  to 

S3 


54  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

chew  and  two  cakes  of  cocoa  and  some  sugar  for 
themselves ;  they  stirred  the  cocoa  with  a  wooden 
spoon  and  enjoyed  it  very  much. 

We  started  off  again,  the  boy  in  front  leading 
one  of  the  llamas,  old  Manuel  in  the  middle  and  his 
wife  behind  him,  then  the  llamas  and  Miguel  carry- 
ing my  guns  and  his  own  pack,  and  I,  bringing  up 
the  rear,  carrying  some  cartridges  and  my  flask. 
The  path  was  still  downhill  and  slushy  with  recent 
rains,  but  the  day  was  fine  and  the  sun  was  shining. 
Occasionally  we  saw  a  few  common  looking  birds. 
By  this  time  the  forest  was  beginning  to  appear, 
and  we  were  traversing  patches  of  long  coarse 
grass ;  on  the  hills  round  about  a  little  snow  could 
still  be  seen. 

At  3.30  we  got  to  the  clearing  and  saw  the 
owner,  who  grew  barley  and  had  a  flock  of  sheep 
there.  I  saluted  him  and  gave  him  a  drink,  and  he 
let  me  have  an  empty  stone  hut  and  mud  bed  for 
myself,  and  another  one  for  Miguel  and  the  cook- 
ing, for  a  Bolivian  dollar,  which  was  about  1/10. 
Miguel  went  to  get  firewood  while  I  went  to  a  clear 
pool  in  the  stream  and  had  a  bath  and  a  change, 
and  put  on  a  dry  pair  of  socks  made  of  llama  wool, 
which  I  had  bought  from  the  Indians.  Then  I 
changed  my  shooting  boots  for  alpagatas,  un- 
strapped my  kit  mattress,  fixed  up  my  bed  com- 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  55 

fortably  and  helped  Miguel  to  make  a  good  Irish 
stew.  We  made  an  excellent  meal,  starting  with 
gin  and  bitters,  followed  by  the  stew,  rice  pudding, 
sterilized  milk  and  jam ;  with  plenty  of  good  water 
and  a  cup  of  Yungas  coffee  afterwards.  There 
was  some  stew  left  over,  which  I  gave  to  the  owner, 
in  exchange  for  which  he  gave  me  four  fresh  eggs. 

In  the  evening,  after  dinner,  the  owner  came 
over  to  my  hut  and  we  had  a  smoke  and  a  yarn. 
He  told  me  that  he  came  from  La  Paz  and  that  his 
father  had  a  store  there,  but  he  preferred  an  open 
air  life,  so  his  father  had  bought  him  a  concession 
of  land  here  and  sent  him  regular  supplies  of  flour 
and  other  things,  as  well  as  money  to  pay  the  three 
Indians  that  worked  for  him,  and  llamas  to  carry 
the  barley  to  La  Paz.  The  spare  hut  I  occupied, 
he  always  kept  for  travellers  at  a  Bolivian  dollar  a 
night,  and  I  was  evidently  lucky  to  find  it 
unoccupied. 

Next  morning,  while  I  was  preparing  my  break- 
fast, he  came  over  again  and  advised  me  to  give  up 
the  idea  of  going  to  Challana,  as  he  had  heard  it  was 
a  very  rough  and  dangerous  journey.  We  loaded 
up  the  llamas  and  started  at  9  a.m. ;  before  we  left 
I  made  a  note  of  the  height  registered  by  my 
aneroid ;  it  was  just  12,350ft.  After  walking  for 
about  three  hours,  we  rounded  a  bend  and  came 


56  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

suddenly  on  some  of  the  finest  rhododendron 
bushes  I  ever  saw,  growing  on  both  sides  of  the 
path,  in  full  bloom,  and  continuing  for  two  miles 
or  more.  At  12.30  we  rested  for  half  an  hour 
among  the  rhododendrons  for  our  usual  lunch.  In 
the  afternoon  the  path  continued  downhill,  past 
banks  of  fuchsias,  roses  and  flowers  of  the  geranium 
type.  There  were  also  many  hardy  ferns,  and  long 
stretches  of  bracken  and  brambles  of  wild  raspberry 
as  large  as  acorns.  The  ground  was  swampy  in 
places,  and  the  path  very  slushy  after  the  recent 
downpour.  My  host  of  the  night  before  told  me  it 
had  rained  without  a  break  for  three  days,  except 
for  some  sleet  and  hail,  but  that  the  weather  would 
probably  hold  now  for  some  days. 

That  afternoon  we  saw  several  partridges,  and 
some  martinettes,  a  bird  the  colour  of  a  partridge 
and  the  size  of  a  hen  pheasant;  like  the  hen 
pheasant  too  it  tastes  well  cooked  with  bread  sauce 
in  the  same  way.  As  we  still  had  the  remains  of 
half  a  sheep  we  did  not  require  fresh  meat,  so  I 
satisfied  myself  with  one  martinette.  They  are 
easy  to  shoot,  as  they  sit  very  close  and  then  run 
along  in  full  view  sometimes  for  eight  or  ten  yards 
without  getting  up  to  fly,  unKke  the  red-wing 
partridges  which  go  in  pairs,  and  so  fast  that  they 
require  a  pretty  good  shot, 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  57 

At  3.30  we  camped  at  an  Indian  clearing  that 
Manuel  knew  very  well;  there  were  several  small 
sheds  of  stone  and  thatch,  of  which  I  hired  one  for 
myself  and  one  for  a  kitchen  at  the  usual  price  of 
a  Bolivian  dollar.  The  owner  begged  for  some 
coca  leaves,  as  no  Indians  had  come  down  with  any 
for  some  time,  so  I  gave  him  a  double  handful,  and 
he  at  once  presented  me  with  a  young  bearsham, 
which  he  had  trapped  in  a  garden  where  he  had  a 
lot  of  green  corn  growing.  He  told  me  there  were 
plenty  of  them  about,  and  said  that  if  I  went  down 
to  the  cornfield  I  might  perhaps  get  one.  After  I 
had  bathed  and  changed  my  boots,  I  took  my  rifle 
and  went  down  to  the  field.  I  had  told  Miguel  to 
make  plenty  of  ashes  to  grill  the  leg  over,  so  that 
we  could  have  it  cold  next  day  for  lunch,  and  also 
to  prepare  the  Irish  stew  in  the  usual  way,  but  not 
to  put  it  on  until  I  got  back.  The  field  was  not  far 
off,  but  after  waiting  about  for  an  hour  or  more, 
and  seeing  nothing,  I  went  back  empty  handed. 

Next  morning  we  left,  in  fine  weather,  at  9  a.m. 
The  path  was  now  all  up  and  down  and  took  us  up 
a  very  steep  hill,  then  down  about  twice  the  length 
the  other  side.  We  saw  many  birds  on  the  way, 
several  martinettes  and  some  bush  chickens,  dark, 
coffee-coloured  birds,  the  size  of  a  fowl,  which  are 
very  good  eating,  and  easily  secured,    I  did  not  try 


58  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

to  shoot  anything,  as  we  already  had  the  small 
bearsham  for  lunch,  and  plenty  of  fresh  meat  left. 
At  3.30  old  Manuel  branched  off  and  led  us  a  Httle 
way  up  an  Indian  trail  to  an  empty  shelter  he 
knew  of,  where  we  camped  near  a  stream.  He 
drove  his  llamas  off  to  a  feeding  ground,  while  I 
pitched  my  tent  outside,  leaving  the  shed  to  the 
Indians  and  Miguel.  My  tent  was  no  more  than  a 
small  canvas  lean-to,  as  the  llamas  could  only  carry 
35lbs.  or  40lbs.  each.  However,  my  kit  mattress 
was  enclosed  in  a  tent,  and  when  this  was  put  up  it 
gave  sufficient  room  for  me  to  lie  down  and  sleep 
comfortably. 

Next  morning,  about  an  hour  after  we  started,  a 
heavy  rain  came  on,  and  continued  all  day  until  8 
p.m.,  when  we  got  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  where  we 
had  to  make  a  camp  as  best  we  could  on  two  or 
three  acres  of  grass.  I  put  up  my  tent  bed,  and 
gave  the  men  the  sheet  of  canvas,  and  soon  we  got 
a  fire  going,  as  we  had  taken  the  precaution  of 
bringing  some  dry  wood  with  us,  which  we  had 
distributed  among  the  llamas,  and  protected  from 
the  rain.  It  was  a  good  thing  we  had  thought  of 
this,  as  otherwise  we  could  have  cooked  nothing. 

The  evening  turned  out  fine  and  the  night  also. 

In  the  morning  Manuel  went  down  the  hill 
before  breakfast  to  see  the  river  we  had  to  cross^ 


NATIVES    IN    THK    INTERIOR   OF   BOLIVIA 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  59 

and  came  back  with  the  information  that  it  would 
not  be  possible  to  cross  that  day,  so  we  should  have 
to  make  the  best  of  it  and  stay  here,  and  if  it  did 
not  rain  again  we  might  go  on  to-morrow.  After 
breakfast  I  went  down  myself  to  look  at  the  river, 
while  the  others  were  busy  putting  out  all  the  gear 
and  stuff  to  dry,  getting  more  firewood  and  laying 
it  out  in  the  sun.  They  also  started  to  dig  trenches 
round  the  shed  of  poles,  and  began  roofing  it  in  and 
siding  it  with  plenty  of  branches  in  case  of  more 
bad  weather.  Meanwhile,  I  shot  two  bush 
chickens  near  the  camp.  At  2  p.m.  it  looked  like 
another  deluge,  so  we  had  the  things  brought  into 
the  shed  and  Manuel  cut  some  long  grass,  and 
fastened  the  big  canvas  fly  over  the  branches  with 
llama  rope.  By  the  time  the  storm  burst  things 
were  pretty  well  arranged.  It  rained  all  night  and 
all  the  next  day  till  early  the  next  morning ;  then 
we  had  lovely  weather,  but  it  took  two  more  days 
for  the  river  to  go  down  sufficiently  for  us  to  be  able 
to  cross,  and  it  was  not  until  the  third  day  after 
the  rain  that  we  could  do  so.  The  road  was,  as 
usual,  very  rough,  and  there  was  only  room  to  walk 
in  single  file.  For  the  first  three  hours  we  were 
marching  up  a  very  steep  hill  and  then  down  a 
much  longer  one,  and  then,  after  crossing  another 
river  and  going  up  a  very  steep  incHne  through 


60  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

thick  forest,  with  begonias  and  many  other  flowers 
growing  in  wild  profusion  everywhere,  we  came  to 
the  only  piece  of  flat  ground  that  we  saw  during 
the  whole  journey  from  Sorata.  It  was  a  sort  of 
park  in  the  centre  of  a  great  forest,  with  steep  hills 
all  round,  about  150  acres  in  extent,  and  here 
Manuel  branched  off  along  a  narrow  trail  for  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards,  and  brought  us  to  another 
small  green  spot  near  a  stream  with  a  big  open 
palm  leaf  shed  and  two  smaller  sheds,  which  he  said 
would  do  for  the  camp.  He  told  me  we  had  some 
very  stiff  climbs  to  do  further  on,  and  that  his 
llamas,  which  had  scarcely  had  any  food  for  five 
days,  must  be  rested  after  the  big  storm,  and 
allowed  to  feed  for  three  days.  As  the  fourth  day 
happened  to  be  a  Sunday,  I  suggested  stopping 
there  for  four  days,  especially  as  everything  we 
could  possibly  want  appeared  to  be  at  hand ;  there 
was  wood,  water,  plenty  of  bush  chickens  and  wild 
turkeys,  plenty  of  grass,  lovely  flowers  and  beauti- 
ful scenery. 

We  left  on  the  fifth  day,  and  crossed  the  river  at 
the  foot  of  a  long,  steep  hill.  The  water  was  well 
over  the  legs  of  the  llamas,  and  all  the  cargo  had  to 
be  taken  off  and  carried  across  big  boulders,  which 
served  as  stepping  stones,  and  then  reloaded  on  the 
other  side,  which  took  a  considerable  time.     The 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  61 

climate  was  getting  much  warmer,  and  we  now  saw 
many  beautiful  tree  ferns  as  well  as  begonias  and 
arums.  Besides  a  few  bush  turkeys  and  mar- 
tinettes,  we  saw  two  beautiful  golden  and  silver 
pheasants,  a  cock  and  a  hen ;  they  were  very  tame 
and  much  too  pretty  to  disturb,  so  I  shot  a  mar- 
tinette  and  a  turkey.  The  narrow,  winding  path 
now  led  us  up  a  hill.  It  was  full  of  puddles  and  so 
overgrown  and  entangled  with  branches  and 
creepers,  that  we  each  had  to  carry  a  cutlass  and 
trim  them  as  we  walked.  Along  the  road  at  dif- 
ferent spots  we  came  across  small  empty  sheds, 
without  owners,  which  are  used  bj^  all  travellers; 
they  generally  mend  them  up  a  little  before  they 
leave,  often  adding  another  for  their  own  accom- 
modation. After  stopping  to  rest  for  half  an  hour 
in  a  cool  spot  at  the  top,  we  continued  down  the 
hill  again,  and  met  twenty-two  mules,  loaded  with 
rubber,  in  charge  of  a  Bolivian  and  five  Indians. 
We  saluted  him,  and  offered  him  a  drink  of  rum, 
and  he  told  us  that  he  had  made  a  camp  at  the 
bottom  of  the  next  hill,  near  the  river,  and  had 
rigged  up  his  bed  in  a  sort  of  cave  there,  but  had 
to  clear  out  and  make  up  his  bed  afresh  in  the  open 
because  the  cave  was  full  of  ants.  He  said  it  took 
three  days  for  himself  and  his  mules  to  get  up  the 
Quillapatuni  Pass  :  he  had  crossed  the  Toro  River 


62  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

just  before  the  rains  had  flooded  it,  and  told  us  we 
should  find  two  sheds  of  poles  with  palm-leaf  roofs 
on  the  top  of  the  pass,  which  he  had  mended  and 
made  rainproof.  I  told  him  we  had  done  the  same 
where  we  had  camped  for  five  days,  and  he  said  he 
would  use  our  camp  to  rest  his  animals  and  let  them 
feed  for  a  day  or  two. 

We  soon  passed  the  cave  he  spoke  of,  crossed  the 
river,  and  walked  up  a  zigzag  path.  From  the  top 
of  the  hill  we  looked  down  on  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful scenes  I  have  ever  beheld.  On  the  left,  at  the 
foot  of  an  almost  perpendicular  incline,  ran  the 
raging  torrent  of  the  River  Toro,  its  steep  banks 
covered  with  tall,  graceful  tree-ferns  and  long 
grass;  on  the  left  of  the  Toro  were  high  hills, 
covered  with  dense  tropical  forest,  and  five  cascades 
pouring  great  volumes  of  water  800ft.  or  600ft. 
down  into  the  river  below ;  in  front  were  high 
hills,  deep  valleys  and  dense  forest  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  see.  On  the  right,  for  two  or  three  acres  at 
least,  stretched  an  easy  slope  covered  with  grass 
and  hundreds  of  beautiful  amaryllis  in  flower;  a 
gorgeous  mass  of  bloom  of  scarlet,  yellow,  blue  and 
every  imaginable  colour.  Round  the  bend,  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards  further  on,  was  a  small 
stream  of  clear  water,  about  three  feet  deep,  run- 
ning over  big  boulders,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  63 

stream  a  little  higher  up  were  the  two  sheds 
recently  occupied  by  the  rubber  transport  man,  on 
the  only  piece  of  flat  ground.  It  was  now  4  p.m., 
and  we  made  up  our  minds  to  stop  there,  and  not 
even  attempt  to  go  down  the  pass  until  we  saw  that 
the  river  had  fallen  considerably. 

I  took  possession  of  one  of  the  sheds  for  myself, 
and  cut  some  long  grass  to  put  under  my  mattress. 

I  had  heard  that  an  American,  called  Salter,  had 
a  rather  exciting  adventure  at  this  pass,  and  when 
I  mentioned  it  to  Manuel  he  told  me  he  himself 
had  taken  him  from  Tiquiripaga,  with  his  llamas, 
and  gave  me  an  account  of  the  whole  thing. 
Apparently,  they  had  just  started  to  walk  down 
the  hill,  when  Salter  got  giddy  and  fell  over.  He 
rolled  down  about  thirty  yards,  and  fortunately 
fell  up  against  a  big  tree-fern,  which  saved  him. 
Manuel  and  his  two  men  tied  together  a  couple  of 
strong  llama  ropes,  and  threw  them  down  to  Salter, 
who  made  one  end  fast  round  his  body,  and  was 
hauled  up.  After  this  escape,  he  refused  to  go 
on  any  further,  and  returned  at  once.  Salter  told 
me  the  story  himself  some  time  later.  He  had 
been  engaged  by  the  Texas  Gold  Mining  Company 
to  go  to  the  lower  Tipuani  and  take  charge  of  a 
gold  washing  concession  for  a  salary  of  £1,000  a 
year,  and  all  expenses.    "  When  I  had  gone  down 


64  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

about  fifty  or  sixty  yards,"  he  said  to  me,  "  I  got 
giddy  and  fell.  The  tree-fern  saved  me,  and  when 
they  hauled  me  up  I  said  :  *  No  money  will  induce 
me  to  go  any  further  down  that  devil's  road ;  they 
must  get  somebody  else  for  this  job.  John  E. 
Salter  goes  not  a  step  further,  I'm  going  straight 
back  to  La  Paz,'  "  and  he  went.  The  company 
subsequently  engaged  a  man  named  Charest,  whom 
I  met  down  at  the  Tipuani. 

That  afternoon  I  went  to  have  a  look  at  the 
pass ;  it  was  just  like  an  endless  succession  of  narrow 
stairs  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock.  The  ledges  were 
only  two  or  three  feet  wide,  with  a  sheer  perpen- 
dicular drop  down  to  the  river  on  the  left  of  a 
terrifying  depth.  Perhaps  a  faint  idea  of  this  path 
may  be  given  by  saying  that  it  was  much  easier  to 
go  up  than  down. 

We  stayed  here  for  three  days.  I  went  out  at 
sunset  each  day  and  stalked  some  bush  chickens  as 
they  went  to  roost ;  and  two  or  three  times  a  day  I 
walked  down  to  feast  my  eyes  on  the  lovely  fields  of 
amaryllis  and  enjoy  the  wonderful  view.  We 
started  on  the  fourth  day  at  8  a.m.  Manuel  said  it 
would  be  too  risky  to  let  the  llamas  carry  the  cargo 
down,  so  he  asked  me  to  engage  four  other  Indians 
whom  he  had  met  walking  up  with  50lb.  loads  of 
coca  leaves,  which  they  were  going  to  sell  in  ex- 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  65 

change  for  barley,  matches,  and  other  things.  I 
took  them  on  for  2/-  each,  and  they  helped  us  to 
transport  all  the  cargo  to  the  foot  of  the  pass  on  the 
banks  of  the  Toro  River  that  day.  I  left  them 
there  that  night  with  Manuel's  son  to  look  after  the 
cargo,  and  walked  down  myself  next  day  with 
Manuel  and  his  wife,  and  Miguel  and  the  llamas. 
The  animals  went  down  one  at  a  time  with  nothing 
on  their  backs,  a  very  pretty  sight.  Manuel 
pointed  out  to  me  the  place  where  Salter  slipped 
and  fell ;  if  he  had  not  struck  the  big  tree-fern  he 
would  certainly  have  been  killed.  I  made  the 
height  where  the  amaryllis  were  growing  about 
4,000ft.,  and  the  Toro  River  below  about  2,600ft. ; 
the  pass  itself  was  half  a  league.  Miguel  and  I 
crossed  the  Toro  on  a  cable  made  of  steel  wire, 
which  the  Government  had  placed  there  for  the 
benefit  of  travellers.  You  have  to  sit  on  a  thick 
short  rope  made  fast  to  two  pulleys  on  either  side 
and  hold  on  very  tight,  while  you  are  hauled  across, 
one  at  a  time,  by  four  or  five  Indians  or  other 
passengers.  I  went  over  first,  and  one  of  the  men 
shouted  to  me  from  the  other  side,  in  Spanish,  not 
to  look  down  at  the  water,  or  I  would  get  giddy 
and  fall  over,  thirty  feet  below.  However,  I  was 
not  a  bit  giddy,  and  looked  down  all  the  way  at  the 
raging  torrent  of  water.     The  rapid  ran  at  about 


66  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

nine  or  ten  knots  an  hour ;  there  was  a  big  whirl- 
pool further  down,  and  a  huge  rock  protruding  in 
the  middle  of  the  stream.  Miguel  was  hauled  over 
next.  He  told  me  he  did  not  look  down,  and  did 
not  like  the  transit  at  all.  After  him  all  the  cargo 
was  transported,  and  then  one  of  the  men,  on  their 
way  to  La  Paz,  was  pulled  across  by  Manuel  and 
his  wife  and  son  to  their  side.  At  the  crossing 
there  were  also  ten  Indians,  and  twelve  small 
mules,  under  a  Bolivian  foreman,  on  their  way  to 
La  Paz  with  rubber  and  Chinchona  bark,  belong- 
ing to  a  rich  Spaniard,  Mr.  Perez,  who  had  a  con- 
cession between  the  Tipuani  and  Challana  Rivers. 
I  had  met  Perez  at  Sorata,  and  he  told  me  he  had 
not  been  to  the  Tipuani  for  twenty  years,  owing  to 
the  shock  of  fever  he  once  got  there.  He  said  he 
was  able  to  ride  on  a  small  mule  nearly  all  the  way, 
as  he  was  not  very  heavy,  but  I  was  too  heavy  for 
a  mule,  and  as  I  would  have  to  walk  all  the  way  he 
thought  I  should  not  be  able  to  manage  it,  and 
would  soon  have  to  turn  back. 

He  was  quite  mistaken,  as  I  never  felt  better  in 
my  life.  Of  course  it  must  be  remembered  that 
walking  behind  llamas  only  meant  going  two  miles 
an  hour,  and  six  hours  a  day,  with  forced  delay  in 
between. 

Perez  also  told  me  that  a  fortnight  before  we  got 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  67 

to  the  Toro  an  Indian  messenger  whom  he  had 
sent  from  Sorata  with  important  letters  to  his  son, 
at  the  Tipuani,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  mail  from  the 
Post  Office  of  La  Paz  and  Sorata,  fell  off  the  rope 
seat,  as  he  was  being  pulled  across,  and  was  swept 
away.  All  the  mail  was  lost,  and  some  money  as 
well,  and  the  body  of  the  poor  chap  has  not  yet 
been  recovered.  This  is  why  one  of  the  men 
shouted  to  me  not  to  look  down.  Meanwhile, 
Manuel  and  his  wife  and  son  were  driving  the  llamas 
to  a  ford,  three  miles  further  up,  where  the  water 
was  shallow,  and  they  could  cross,  and  Miguel  and 
I  waited  for  them.  They  turned  up  at  2  p.m.,  and 
we  walked  on,  along  a  narrow  track,  near  the  river 
for  a  mile,  till  we  reached  the  home  of  an  Indian 
rubber  picker,  who  was  then  down  the  river  pick- 
ing. His  wife  and  children  were  at  home,  and  we 
camped  near  their  ranches  for  the  night;  I  fixed 
my  bed  up  on  the  balcony.  On  this  ranch  they 
grew  maize,  yams,  sweet  potatoes,  bananas,  paw- 
paw, pineapple  and  oranges.  There  was  another 
ranch  some  hundred  yards  away,  belonging  to 
another  family,  where  they  grew  sugar.  The 
mistress  of  the  house,  a  rather  good-looking  Indian 
woman,  from  the  Tipuani  River,  was  very  good  in- 
deed to  me,  and  sold  me  all  the  fruit  and  eggs  I 
wanted  cheap,  as  well  as  some  "'corn  meal,  some 


68  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

delicious  tortillas,  made  from  maize  meal,  and  the 
meat  of  young  deer  that  had  been  shot  by  her 
neighbour,  the  day  before,  and  nicely  seasoned,  for 
the  equivalent  of  a  penny  each.  Next  day  I  shot 
some  young  parrots  for  my  stew.  I  saw  several 
toucans  here,  gaudy  scarlet,  black  and  yellow  birds 
with  pelican  beaks.  Orchids  of  different  varieties 
were  growing  on  the  trees  close  by.  The  Indian 
woman  told  me  that  her  maize  field  was  often 
troubled  by  monkeys  and  bears,  but  every  now  and 
then  they  managed  to  trap  a  bear.  The  weather 
still  kept  fine,  and,  in  the  morning,  we  started  off 
over  the  hill,  and  down  again  over  the  other  side. 
At  the  foot  of  every  hill  was  a  river,  which  we  had 
to  wade  across.  The  best  foot-gear  for  marching 
through  the  tropical  forest  is  canvas  alpagatas, 
with  strips  of  hides  for  soles,  and  one  soft  broad 
strap  running  from  the  heel  to  fasten  over  the  in- 
step, and  passing  in  a  loop  through  another  strap, 
which  is  attached  to  the  straps  on  either  side  of  the 
alpagata.  A  pair  of  large  strong,  hob-nailed  shoot- 
ing boots  should  also  be  carried  for  boggy  ground. 
It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  say  something  about 
how  the  traveller  can  best  make  himself  comfort- 
able on  a  journey  in  these  parts.  Socks  should  be 
of  llama  wool,  and  pulled  well  over  the  bottom  of 
the  trousers.    No  coat  or  waistcoat  should  be  worn. 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  69 

and  all  clothing  should  be  taken  off,  and  a  towel 
kept  handy,  when  crossing  rivers.  It  is  always 
advisable  to  put  on  one's  coat  while  sitting  down  to 
rest,  before  getting  thoroughly  cool.  For  head 
gear,  a  big  panama  hat  or  pith  helmet  is  the  best, 
and  a  large  umbrella  is  very  useful.  The  best  way 
to  avoid  fever  is  to  change  into  dry  pants  and  shirt 
each  day,  as  soon  as  camp  is  reached ;  I  was  never 
troubled  with  fever,  I  think  for  this  reason.  It  is 
quite  safe  to  drink  as  much  water  as  one  likes,  on 
the  way,  from  the  streams  running  over  stones. 
On  reaching  camp  or  resting  place  I  advise  a  tot  of 
whisky,  gin  or  rum.  The  Indian  men  never  drink 
water  on  the  march,  they  always  suck  coca  leaves 
instead,  but  I  think  my  way  is  the  best. 

Next  day  we  had  a  rough  uphill  march  nearly  the 
whole  time,  and  when  we  got  to  the  top  of  another 
small  mountain,  at  3  p.m.,  the  rain  began  to  fall 
again,  so  heavily  that  we  were  unable  to  cross  the 
river,  and  reach  the  SoKs  Coffee  estate  that  day, 
but  were  forced  to  spend  a  very  uncomfortable  two 
nights  and  a  day  waiting  for  the  rain  to  stop,  and 
the  river  to  go  down.  There  was  no  shelter,  what- 
soever, and  we  had  to  make  the  best  of  it.  When 
we  did  cross,  we  had  only  three  miles  to  go  to  reach 
the  coffee  estate.  I  gave  the  man  in  charge  the 
letters  I  had  from  Solis,  and  he  at  once  let  me  have 


70  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

two  nice  rooms,  that  were  generally  kept  for  the 
proprietor's  use  only,  a  nice  shed  and  kitchen.  I 
gave  his  wife  plenty  of  whole  meal  flour,  which  she 
started  immediately  to  make  into  dough  and  knead 
for  bread.  I  was  told  that  I  could  have  the  use  of 
Solis  House  as  long  as  I  cared  to  stay,  and  could 
buy  eggs  for  1/-  a  dozen,  and  fowls  for  1/-  each. 

Next  day  he  was  going  to  send  an  Indian  to  a 
man,  who  had  two  small  mules,  and  ask  him  to  come 
and  see  me,  and  make  a  bargain  for  going  the  rest 
of  the  way  to  Tipuani.  Manuel  and  his  party  were 
returning  next  day,  and  taking  with  them  a  cargo 
of  coffee  to  Solis  at  Sorata.  However,  it  began 
raining  again  in  the  night,  and  kept  on  for  three 
days  and  two  nights,  so  that  Manuel  could  not  start 
back  for  five  days,  and  the  Indian  could  not  go  for 
the  mule  man  either,  but  it  did  not  matter  much, 
as  we  were  short  of  nothing,  and  had  plenty  to  eat 
and  drink,  and  some  nice  fresh  pines  and  oranges 
for  fruit. 

On  the  fifth  morning  Manuel  left,  and  I  was 
sorry  he  could  not  go  further.  He  had  been  very 
obliging  and  civil,  and  most  abstemious  and  un- 
obtrusive, and  I  shall  always  look  back  with 
pleasure  to  the  weeks  spent  with  him,  and  his 
llamas  and  wives.  Two  days  after  he  left,  the  man 
with  the  mules  turned  up,  and  agreed  to  come  with 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATtJNl  PASS  71 

me,  carrying  50lbs.  himself  and  lOOlbs.  each  on  his 
animals,  as  well  as  the  blankets,  and  my  bed  kit,  for 
twenty-eight  bolivians  (56/-).  He  told  me  there 
were  three  Indians  living  near  him  who  were  glad 
to  take  carrying  jobs,  when  opportunity  offered, 
and  one  of  them  had  come  with  him  to  represent 
the  others.  They  agreed  to  come  for  six  bolivians 
each  (12/-),  and  to  carry  50lbs.  apiece,  but  could 
only  be  ready  to  leave  in  five  days  time. 

While  I  was  waiting  for  them  to  arrive,  I  shot  a 
few  parrots  and  doves ;  they  make  a  very  tasty  stew 
when  cooked  with  plantains  and  eschalots,  with  a 
dessert-spoonful  of  Liebig's  as  a  flavouring,  and  some 
rice  to  thicken  it.  I  also  did  some  prospecting 
here,  and  panned  out  a  little  gold.  Nobody  appears 
to  have  worked  on  this  stream,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  it  contains  gold.  It  would  be  quite  easy  to 
work,  as  it  runs  down  at  a  good  gradient  to  the 
river  below,  and  there  is  plenty  of  grass  for  animals. 
Small  mules  or  donkeys  could  get  there  without 
difficulty,  and  there  is  plenty  of  game  in  the  forest, 
and  some  Indian  families  living  near.  This  time 
we  left  behind  in  Solis's  room  all  the  heavy  rugs 
and  clothes  for  mountain  wear,  and  I  had  a  small 
sack  of  bread  made  to  carry  with  us.  Antonio  and 
the  Indians  carried  their  own  food,  but,  as  usual, 
there  was  always  a  little  left  over  from  the  big  stew 


72  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Miguel  and  I  prepared  every  night,  which  they 
appreciated  very  much. 

When  we  started  Antonio  began  to  drive  his 
animals  at  about  four  miles  an  hour.  I  told  him 
not  to  go  so  fast,  but  to  keep  to  my  pace,  which 
was  more  like  two  miles  an  hour,  and  six  or  eight 
a  day.  He  said  we  should  be  more  than  a  week 
getting  to  Tipuani  at  that  pace,  but  it  would  not 
matter,  as  the  mules  would  be  fit  to  take  a  cargo  of 
rubber  back  for  Perez. 

On  the  way  down  we  heard  many  toucans,  mock- 
ing birds,  parrots  and  monkeys,  and  saw  plenty  of 
guavas ;  we  gathered  a  lot  of  these,  and  the  mules 
kept  munching  at  them  all  the  way.  At  the  bottom 
of  this  hill  there  were  some  beautiful  big  butterflies 
with  wings  half  orange  colour  and  half  a  bright  sky 
blue.  I  decided  to  get  a  few  on  the  way  back.  On 
the  way  up  the  next  hill  we  saw  more  butterflies, 
some  light  blue,  others  almost  purple,  but  I  noticed 
that  this  little  valley  was  the  only  place,  on  my 
whole  journey,  where  the  orange  and  blue  winged 
ones  were  to  be  seen,  and  there  were  dozens  of 
them.  That  day,  too,  we  saw  several  wild  turkeys, 
and  came  across  the  spoor  of  peccary  and  bear,  and 
occasionally  the  track  of  a  deer.  We  made  camp 
that  afternoon  at  4  p.m.,  and,  as  soon  as  we 
arrived,  I  gave  the  Indians  a  tot  of  cheap  rum  each, 


AN    INDIAN    WOMAN    OF   THE   BOLIVIAN    INTERIOR 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  78 

and  had  a  gin  and  bitters  myself.  Our  camp  was 
four  sheds  of  bamboo,  with  palm-leaf  roofs,  in- 
habited by  a  half-caste  and  his  wife,  who  were  grow- 
ing sugar  cane,  to  make  rum  to  sell.  He  told  me 
he  was  practically  a  non-drinker  himself,  and  only 
took  a  tot  in  the  morning,  and  another  at  night,  to 
ward  off  fever.  I  hired  one  shed  for  myself,  and 
another  for  the  men,  at  the  usual  price  of  2/-.  I 
managed  to  get  another  wild  turkey  here,  quite 
close  to  the  camp,  to  take  on  with  us  the  next  day. 
In  the  morning  we  had  to  go  up  a  very  steep  hill ; 
the  path  was  cut  out  of  the  slippery,  red,  clayish 
soil,  and  was  so  narrow  in  places  that  there  was 
barely  room  to  pass  one  foot  over  the  other.  There 
were  puddles  of  water  all  the  way  up  and  the  trees 
were  so  lofty  that  they  often  hid  the  sun  from  view 
altogether.  We  were  glad  to  get  to  the  top  of  this 
pass,  only  to  find  that  the  path  going  down  to  the 
river,  on  the  other  side,  was  just  as  bad  and 
twice  as  long.  The  Indian  saw  two  deer  on  the  way 
down,  but  I  did  not  spot  them.  The  woods  were 
full  of  all  sorts  of  gaudy  coloured  birds,  especially 
yellow  and  green  parrots,  which  the  Indians  always 
take  with  them  to  sell,  when  they  go  into  Sorata  or 
La  Paz ;  they  are  considered  to  be  the  best  talkers, 
especially  those  with  a  red  patch  on  their  heads. 
Down  by  the  river  there  were  some  fine  orchids 


74  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

growing  on  the  trees,  and  many  bright  coloured 
butterflies.  After  walking  up  another  steep  hill 
and  down  another  long  one,  we  crossed  a  stream 
and  pitched  camp,  making  use  of  two  small  open 
palm-leaf  shelters  and  putting  up  a  third.  Nobody 
was  living  there,  but  there  was  plenty  of  long  grass 
about  for  the  mules,  which  Antonio  tied  up,  and 
kept  shifting  to  fresh  feeding  ground.  The  weather 
was  still  fine ;  in  the  rainy  season,  after  a  good  spell 
of  rain,  it  always  holds  for  a  week  or  ten  days.  The 
next  day  was  up  and  down  hill  going  all  the  way ; 
the  woods  were  still  full  of  toucans,  parrots  and 
mocking  birds.  Our  camp,  this  time,  was  in 
another  coSee  estate ;  I  found  the  owner  there,  and 
he  said  he  had  a  farm  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Titicaca, 
and  only  came  there  for  a  few  weeks  every  year,  to 
load  up  some  small  mules  with  coffee.  He  did  not 
take  much  trouble  with  the  place,  as  though  the 
coffee  was  very  good  the  transport  was  difiicult. 
He  told  me  he  went  to  his  farm  by  a  different  route 
from  the  one  I  had  come ;  it  took  two  days  longer, 
but  it  avoided  the  Quillapatuni  Pass,  and  most  of 
the  rubber  coming  from  the  interior  to  La  Paz 
and  the  coast  went  that  way.  He  thought  the 
Indians  would  make  me  turn  back  when  I  got  to 
the  border.  I  promised  to  put  up  again  at  his  place 
on  my  return  journey,  and  he  called  his  wife  and 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  75 

his  head  man,  and  caretaker,  and  told  her  to  open 
his  rooms  for  me  when  I  came  back.  He  advised 
me,  when  I  came  back,  to  branch  off  and  take  the 
path  he  had  told  me  of,  to  avoid  the  Quillapatuni 
Pass,  but  I  said  I  thought  it  would  be  much  easier 
walking  up  that  path  than  down,  and  would  rather 
return  by  the  same  road.  The  next  day  our  mid- 
day stopping  place  for  lunch  was  a  small  orange 
grove,  where  the  owner  grew  a  lot  of  coffee  as  well. 
As  soon  as  he  saw  me  he  handed  me  a  note,  and 
said  :  "  This  was  left  by  an  Indian  from  Challana, 
who  asked  me  to  look  out  for  you,  and  deliver  it. 
I  knew  it  was  you  coming  along  by  your  size." 

The  note  read :  "  Take  the  advice  of  a  friend, 
who  wishes  no  harm  to  come  to  you,  or  any  other 
foreigner.  I  beg  you  not  to  persist  in  your  attempt 
to  enter  Challana.  The  inhabitants  say  you  have 
been  sent  by  the  Government  to  spy  on  them  and 
their  country,  and  if  you  cross  the  river  the  same 
fate  will  befall  you  as  befell  Philip  Barbari  and 
his  companions.  Be  warned  in  time,  and  turn 
back." 

It  was  written  in  Spanish,  and  there  was  no 
signature.  In  the  afternoon  we  continued  on, 
over  the  same  kind  of  ground,  through  fine  tropical 
scenery,  to  the  banks  of  another  river,  where  we 
saw  some  people  were  washing  for  gold.     They 


76  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

owned  a  farm  and  cattle,  and  grew  maize,  bananas 
and  other  fruits.  At  the  farm-house  on  the  top  of 
the  hill,  for  nothing  they  lent  me  a  big  palm  roofed 
shed,  and  sold  me  some  fresh  milk  and  bread.  I 
slept  outside  that  night. 

In  the  morning  we  walked  down  a  hill,  crossed 
another  river,  then  up  and  down  some  more  steep 
hills  to  the  banks  of  the  Tipuani,  the  great  gold 
river.  We  camped  at  a  beautiful  spot  called 
Gritado,  where  a  man  called  Ricardo  Rodriguez 
lived,  the  owner  of  several  small  huts  of  bamboo 
and  palm-leaf  roofs.  He  told  me  he  came  from  La 
Paz,  and  introduced  me  to  his  two  wives,  who  were 
sisters.  He  was  growing  sugar  and  coffee,  bananas, 
oranges,  pines  and  pawpaws ;  this  fruit  is  delicious 
and  very  good  for  the  health,  and  pepsine  is  made 
from  the  seed  of  it.  He  told  me  there  was  plenty 
of  gold  to  be  washed  out  all  along  the  banks  of  the 
river  near  his  place;  he  himself  only  worked  for 
gold  seven  or  eight  weeks  in  the  year,  and  often 
got  as  much  as  twenty  ounces  and  more  in  a  week. 
He  wanted  to  go  to  La  Paz  when  the  dry  season  set 
in,  and  offered  to  let  me  hire  his  three  small  mules, 
to  take  my  cargo  back  as  far  as  La  Paz,  for  £3 
each,  and  expenses  for  food;  he  said  there  were 
some  bad  Indians  about  on  the  road,  looking  out 
for  travellers  whom  they  could  attack  and  rob.     I 


OVER  THE  QUILLAPATUNI  PASS  77 

told  him  we  had  met  none,  but  should  be  very  glad 
to  accept  his  offer  for  our  return  journey.  From 
here  to  the  village  of  Tipuani  was  only  seven  hours' 
journey,  through  a  forest,  mostly  easy  going  by  a 
path  that  kept  near  the  big  river  all  the  way. 
We  passed  two  small  holdings,  inhabited  by  two 
Barbadian  blacks,  who  had  married  Indian  women ; 
they  were  growing  sugar,  chiefly  for  rum,  also 
maize,  bananas  and  other  things.  In  the  afternoon 
we  reached  Tipuani. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA 

THE  village  of  Tipuani  is  composed  of 
about  eight  or  ten  ranches,  and  one 
store,  which  is  Perez'  rubber  trading 
quarters.  Perez'  place  is  the  first  house 
in  the  village  as  you  come  in  from  Gritado,  and 
consists  of  a  store,  a  dwelling  house,  and  a  very 
large  shed,  where  the  pickers  bring  their  rubber 
and  rest  for  a  few  days  before  going  back  to  pick. 
I  gave  Perez  his  father's  letter,  and  thanked  him 
for  offering  to  put  me  up,  but  told  him  I  was  going 
to  the  hut  of  Noboa,  whom  Sanches  at  La  Paz  had 
recommended  me  to  see,  as  he  was  a  kind  of  agent 
for  the  Challana  people. 

Perez  offered  me  a  drink,  but  I  refused  it,  as  I 
seldom  take  one  on  the  march,  but  always  wait  till 
the  stopping  place.    When  I  got  to  Noboa's  hut  I 

accepted  a  glass  of  very  good  rum,  distilled  by  old 

78 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        79 

Noboa  himself,  and  bought  some  off  him  at  2/-  a 
bottle.  The  old  man,  who  had  an  Indian  wife  very 
much  younger  than  himself  and  not  at  all  bad  look- 
ing, called  to  her  to  make  ready  a  clean  hut  for  me 
and  a  shed  for  Miguel  and  the  cooking,  and  we 
made  ourselves  at  home.  After  things  had  been 
unloaded  and  straightened  out,  I  paid  off  the 
Indians  and  Antonio,  and  two  days  later  they 
started  back  for  La  Paz,  with  cargoes  of  rubber 
from  Perez.  While  Miguel  was  putting  the  camp 
to  rights,  and  preparing  an  Irish  stew  from 
challona,  yams  and  eschalots,  I  went  over  to  see 
young  Perez.  He  had  been  educated  at  the  best 
college  in  Madrid,  and  was  going  to  join  the 
cavalry,  but  asked  his  father  to  let  him  go  and  see 
the  famous  Tipuani  River,  where  so  much  gold  and 
rubber  came  from.  Not  being  heavy,  he  was  able 
to  ride  most  of  the  way.  Unluckily  for  him,  he  got 
the  fever  at  Tipuani,  and  had  been  there  now  for 
two  years  and  a  half,  and  could  not  get  out.  Every 
time  he  tried  to  get  away,  as  soon  as  he  got  to 
higher  altitudes,  days  before  he  could  even  reach 
the  Andine  Range,  the  fever  came  back  and  he  was 
forced  to  return.  He  meant  to  try  again  in  a  few 
weeks'  time.  He  was  not  the  only  one  served  in 
this  way  by  the  fever. 

Another  fellow  called  Bartelot,  whom  I  met  a 


80  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

few  leagues  from  here,  told  me  he  had  come  down 
to  wash  for  gold  sixteen  years  ago,  and  had  got 
stuck  ever  since  then,  owing  to  periodical  attacks 
of  fever.  He  found  gold  frequently,  but  only 
worked  occasionally,  and  did  not  trouble  much 
about  it.  He  lived  in  a  big  bamboo  and  palm  shed, 
partitioned  off  into  rooms,  with  a  young  Indian 
wife. 

The  saying  down  there  is  :  '*  If  you  get  a  real 
good  dose  of  Tipuani  fever,  you  will  have  to  stop 
here." 

Old  Noboa  told  me  that  he  had  been  one  of  two 
hundred  slaves  brought  over  by  Count  Noboa  from 
Brazil  up  the  Amazon,  and  through  the  Acre  and 
Challana  districts  to  this  famous  gold  river.  The 
Count  was  here  for  four  years  and  a  half,  and  got  a 
lot  of  gold.  He  was  a  very  good  master,  and  told 
all  his  men  that  those  who  wanted  to  return  with 
him  could  do  so  and  each  one  would  receive  his 
small  holding  and  some  stock,  and  those  who 
wished  to  remain  on  the  river  could  stay  behind. 
Most  of  them  went  back  to  Brazil,  but  a  few  re- 
mained, and  with  his  assistance  fixed  up  their 
chacras  and  planted  sugar,  coffee,  corn,  fruit  and 
other  things.  The  old  black  man  Noboa  was  one 
of  them,  and  he  christened  himself  after  the  Count, 
his  benefactor.    As  far  as  I  could  learn  he  was  the 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        81 

only  one  left;  the  rest  had  either  died  or  gone 
away. 

He  told  me  that  some  men  from  Challana  would 
probably  arrive  in  a  few  days  and  he  would  send 
them  over  to  me  that  I  might  arrange  to  return  to 
Paroma  with  them. 

The  day  after  we  arrived,  a  tall,  wiry  man 
appeared  while  we  were  at  lunch,  and  introduced 
himself  as  ''  Mr.  Robert  A.  Mackenzie,  at  your 
service";  he  joined  us  in  our  lunch,  which  we 
washed  down  with  good  water  and  old  Noboa's 
rum.  He  told  me  he  had  been  here  sixteen  years ; 
six  years  ago  his  father  had  left  him  a  nice  property 
at  Epsom,  and  ever  since  then  he  had  been  trying 
to  get  back  to  England,  but  the  fever  had  pre- 
vented him.  Whenever  he  got  a  little  stronger  he 
would  start  off  on  his  old  mule,  but  as  soon  as  ever 
he  got  up  into  the  cooler  atmosphere  the  fever 
recurred  and  he  found  it  impossible  to  continue, 
and  had  to  come  down  again  to  the  forest.  He 
proposed  that  I  should  shift  camp  to  his  place, 
where  there  was  plenty  of  room;  he  was  in  the 
house  where  the  late  Colonel  Villamil  used  to  live 
when  he  was  working  on  the  big  placer  mine  below. 
I  promised  to  come  and  bring  my  own  food  with 
me. 

Next  day  Miguel  and  the  two  West  Indians  who 


82  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

were  digging  for  gold  with  Mackenzie  helped  me 
to  get  all  my  provisions  and  gear  pulled  across  by  a 
long  steel  cable,  affixed  to  a  high  platform  on  each 
side,  which  had  been  placed  there  by  old  Villamil 
and  was  kept  in  good  repair  by  his  heirs  and  by 
Perez  for  his  rubber  business.  After  all  the  goods 
had  been  hauled  over,  Miguel  was  pulled  across 
and  then  myself.  The  river  was  quite  wide  just 
here,  and  the  rope  cable  was  fully  fifty  feet  above 
the  water.  Mackenzie  was  on  the  other  side,  wait- 
ing to  welcome  me,  and  we  walked  together  up  a 
neat  gravel  path,  with  tropical  flowers,  creepers 
and  palms  growing  in  wild  profusion  on  either  side. 
Soon  we  passed  a  tunnel  under  the  hill,  which  had 
been  built  and  dug  out  by  Villamil,  and  which 
Mackenzie  was  now  working  with  his  two  West 
Indians ;  and  a  big  artificial  pond  five  feet  deep  and 
about  twenty  yards  by  fifteen,  all  stoned  up  at  the 
sides  with  a  canal  running  into  it  at  one  end ;  and  a 
heavy  movable  shutter  of  iron  and  wood  at  the 
other;  all  this  had  also  been  built  by  Colonel 
Villamil  and  his  men.  Then  there  were  sheds, 
houses,  a  kitchen,  and,  further  on,  a  four-room 
house  and  a  very  large  carpenter's  shed,  a  smithy 
and  some  other  sheds,  all  put  up  by  him. 
Mackenzie  lived  in  the  principal  house,  and  his  two 
men  and  an  Indian  cook  near  the  kitchen.    It  was 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        88 

a  beautiful  spot  for  a  camp,  a  green  patch  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  the  forest,  which  was  a  mass 
of  wild  flowers,  begonias  and  anthurciums,  with 
red,  white  and  purple  creepers,  parasites  and 
orchids  growing  on  the  trees.  Big  butterflies  of  all 
colours  were  flying  about,  light  blue,  dark  blue, 
purple,  red  and  white  and  yellow ;  all  kinds  of 
parrots  were  chattering  and  flying  over  in  flocks, 
and  now  and  then  a  gorgeous  macaw  would  perch 
on  the  top  of  a  high  tree  close  by. 

Villamil  had  grub-staked  Mackenzie  and  his 
brother  and  two  or  three  more,  but  somehow  or 
other  it  was  not  a  success.  His  brother  had  gone 
home  six  years  ago,  and  all  the  rest  had  drifted  off 
except  Mac  and  an  old  Indian  and  his  family.  All 
they  did  was  to  send  gold  into  La  Paz,  in  return 
for  which  they  received  provisions ;  if  they  sent  no 
gold  they  got  no  food.  There  was  plenty  of  gold 
about,  and  whenever  they  washed  up  they  always 
got  some,  but  as  they  only  worked  two  or  three 
days  a  week  they  could  not  expect  to  get  much ; 
also  it  was  really  far  too  hot  to  be  a  white  man's 
country,  and  the  natives  will  only  work  enough  to 
satisfy  their  immediate  wants.  The  two  West 
Indians  only  worked  on  Monday,  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday.  Mac  paid  them  at  the  rate  of  4/- 
each  a  day,  and  they  paid  1/-  a  day  each  for  food. 


84  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

and  did  their  own  cooking.  They  did  not  appear 
to  want  to  return  to  the  West  Indies,  and  were 
quite  satisfied  to  put  in  only  three  days'  digging. 
These  two  men  were  part  of  a  gang  brought  from 
the  West  Indian  Islands  by  an  American  who  tried 
to  molest  an  Indian  girl  on  the  way  down.  Her 
people  went  to  La  Paz  to  complain,  and  when  he 
found  out  that  the  authorities  were  taking  up  the 
matter  he  cleared  out  through  the  forest,  and  was 
last  heard  of  in  Paraguay.  These  two  stayed  on 
with  Mac;  the  others  had  drifted  away  on  their 
own. 

While  I  was  here  Mac  showed  me  an  old  cutting 
from  a  La  Paz  paper,  giving  an  account  of  the  late 
Colonel  Villamil's  Tipuani  concession.  He  had  as 
many  as  five  hundred  Indians  working  for  two 
years ;  then  he  went  to  Paris  for  three  years,  and 
came  back  for  another  two  years,  taking  out  alto- 
gether in  that  time  356,586ozs.  of  gold.  When 
he  died  he  left  his  family  a  million  of  money  and 
this  rich  concession.  His  eldest  son,  the  present 
Colonel  Villamil,  is  now  the  head  of  the  business ; 
he  has  never  been  down  here,  but  lives  partly  in 
France,  partly  in  La  Paz.  He  still  keeps  up  the 
payment  of  the  yearly  licence  to  Bolivia,  and  wants 
to  turn  over  the  concession  to  a  rich  Company  who 
will   work   it    properly.      Besides  other   improve- 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        85 

ments,  the  old  Colonel  made  a  narrow  open  drain 
two  feet  deep  and  three  feet  wide,  which  wound 
down  in  long  curves  for  three  miles  from  a  stream 
at  the  top  of  the  hill,  tapping  two  or  three  small 
streams  on  the  way,  and  so  diverting  the  water  into 
the  big  artificial  pond  near  his  camp,  whence  it 
could  flow  down  whenever  required  to  the  washings 
below.  The  whole  thing  formed  a  ready-made 
placer  working  for  any  big  company.  It  may  be 
taken  up  now  for  all  I  know,  but  it  was  still  un- 
worked  in  1904.  Mac  told  me  that  the  richest  part 
of  the  working  lay  between  the  village  of  Tipuani 
and  a  point  beyond  Gritado.  Old  Colonel  Villamil 
was  Commander-in-Chief  in  Melgarejo's  time,  and 
I  was  given  to  understand  by  several  people  that  he 
and  Melgarejo  were  partners  in  the  gold  business, 
and  used  to  make  the  prisoners  work  in  it,  feeding 
them  all  well,  and  putting  by  a  part  of  the  profits 
for  them,  according  to  the  gold  each  gang  found. 

Next  day,  after  breakfast,  while  Mac  and  I  were 
in  the  carpenter's  shed,  helping  to  make  some 
sleepers  out  of  hard  wood  for  the  mine  trolly,  the 
cook  brought  us  a  native  with  a  finger  tip  of  his  left 
hand  chopped  off.  Mac  was  a  vet  by  profession, 
and  after  fixing  the  finger  up  and  giving  him  some 
lint  and  bandages,  to  take  with  him  and  cut  up  as 
he  needed  them,  we  asked  him  how  the  accident 


86  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

happened.  He  told  us  that  while  he  was  in  the 
forest  picking  guavas,  he  was  bitten  on  his  finger 
by  a  large  "  tucandera  "  ant.  He  said  these  ants 
were  deadly  poisonous,  and  that  it  was  usual  for 
the  natives,  if  bitten  on  the  finger,  to  cut  it  off  at 
once ;  so  he  had  chopped  his  finger  tip  off.  If  they 
were  bitten  on  the  head  it  was  probably  fatal.  The 
male  ant  is  black  and  the  female  brown,  and  they 
are  about  1\  inches  long.  Luckily  for  the  natives 
living  on  the  Tipuani  there  are  very  few  of  these 
pests  about.  Mackenzie  had  never  seen  one, 
although  he  had  often  heard  of  them,  and  he  told 
me  this  was  the  fifth  Indian  that  had  come  to  him 
to  be  treated  for  chopped  fingers  in  seventeen 
years. 

In  the  afternoon  Mac  and  I  took  our  guns  and 
walked  up  the  path  alongside  the  stone  canal  the 
late  Colonel  Villamil  had  made  for  a  distance  of  a 
league  and  more  to  shoot  some  bush  chickens  for 
the  larder.  There  are  plenty  of  these  birds  about 
and  it  is  easy  enough  to  get  them ;  all  you  have  to 
do  is  to  wait  about  near  the  big  trees  where  they 
go  to  roost  every  evening  an  hour  or  so  before  sun- 
set, and  simply  take  a  pot  shot  at  them.  After  we 
had  got  seven  in  three  shots  we  hurried  off  down 
the  path  again,  as  the  sun  had  just  set,  and  it  is 
soon  dark  in  these  parts.    Mac  told  me  he  had  once 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        87 

been  benighted  on  this  path  and  did  not  want  to 
experience  it  again.  On  the  way  back  a  flight  of 
about  fifty  pigeons  passed  us  in  three  lots;  they 
were  all  one  colour,  a  chocolate  brown,  and  the  size 
of  the  ordinary  wood-pigeon.  We  neither  of  us 
fired  at  them;  Mac  said  he  had  seen  them  often 
before,  always  about  the  same  hour,  and  always 
flying  in  the  same  direction.  We  called  them  "  the 
lost  tribe." 

The  next  day  old  Noboa  sent  us  word  that  he 
had  finished  distilling  his  rum,  that  it  was  very 
good,  and  that  he  was  selling  what  he  did  not  want 
to  keep  at  2/-  a  quart.  So  I  went  over  with  the 
West  Indians,  Charlie  and  Rayo,  to  bring  back  half 
a  dozen  bottles,  or  a  dozen  if  I  could  get  them. 
We  got  the  dozen,  Mac  taking  one  half  and  I  the 
other.  Charlie  and  Rayo  bought  themselves  two 
bottles  each.  Rayo  was  a  very  steady,  sober  chap, 
and  never  by  any  chance  took  more  than  one  or 
two  small  tots  a  day.  Charlie,  on  the  other  hand, 
never  did  any  work  at  all  until  his  rum  was  finished, 
which  did  not  take  long;  consequently  he  never 
had  any  money,  as  he  seldom  worked  more  than 
three  days  a  week.  Gold  digging  is  usually  paid 
according  to  the  amount  found,  but  Mackenzie 
paid  his  two  or  three  men  differently,  giving  them 
4/-  a  day  of  10  hours,  and  deducting  2/-  a  day  for 


88  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

their  grub,  which  was  given  out  in  weekly  rations 
every  Saturday  for  the  next  week,  and  then  de- 
ducted from  their  pay  the  following  Saturday. 
Noboa's  place  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  big 
river,  and  we  always  crossed  over  by  the  steel  cable 
originally  fixed  by  the  late  Colonel  Villamil  and 
now  kept  in  order  by  his  heirs.  We  crossed  over 
all  right,  but  on  the  return  journey,  when  I  was 
about  three  parts  of  the  way  over,  the  rope 
snapped,  leaving  me  sitting  on  the  swinging  board 
about  forty  feet  above  the  river.  Mac  had  a  small 
sack  brought,  and  in  it  a  stone.  Round  the  stone 
he  tied  a  good  stout  rope  and  then  tried  to  chuck 
it  gently  into  my  lap.  It  took  some  time,  as  he 
always  missed  me,  and  of  course  I  could  not  render 
any  assistance  by  trying  to  catch  it  for  fear  of  over- 
balancing and  toppling  over  into  the  river  below. 
At  last  it  dropped  into  my  lap  and  I  made  it  fast 
and  was  pulled  across.  A  few  days  after  this  an 
Indian  who  was  crossing  overbalanced  and  fell  into 
the  river  near  the  bank,  hurting  his  back  rather 
badly.  I  suggested  we  had  better  rub  in  a  sweat- 
ing blister  and  then  let  him  remain  quiet  until  the 
effects  were  over.  So  we  had  him  carried  on  a 
stretcher  to  his  hut,  let  his  wife  rub  the  blister  in, 
and  left  him.  Next  day  he  and  his  wife  came  over 
and  brought  presents  of  eggs,  fowl,  bananas,  pines 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        89 

and  oranges.  When  I  returned  from  Challana  and 
Paroma  Mac  told  me  the  cure  had  fixed  him  up 
well. 

Next  day  I  went  over  again  to  see  Noboa,  who 
told  me  no  Challana  men  had  come  yet ;  it  was  the 
rainy  season  and  the  big  Challana  river  was  prob- 
ably up  and  they  could  not  cross.  I  bought  a 
bottle  of  rum  from  him  for  2/-,  and  a  big  bunch  of 
plantains  for  1/-,  and  gathered  a  lot  of  fine,  pip- 
less  oranges,  which  his  son,  a  boy  of  twelve,  carried 
to  the  cable  for  me.  I  looked  in  to  see  Perez  on  the 
way  back,  and  found  he  had  another  attaqk  of  fever 
coming  on.  I  was  hauled  over  by  Miguel,  and 
then  went  into  the  tunnel  which  had  been  started 
by  Villamil  and  his  men,  and  was  now  being 
worked  and  continued  underneath  the  hill  by  Mac 
and  his  West  Indians,  Charlie  and  Rayo.  It  was 
very  damp,  and  had  to  be  well  boarded  up  all  the 
way,  with  good  heavy  iron  wood  logs,  and  roofed 
up  all  over  with  the  same  hard  wood.  They  were 
working  as  far  down  as  the  false  bed  rock  in  a  layer 
of  black  gravel ;  Charlie  and  Rayo  by  themselves, 
and  Mackenzie  mostly  up  at  the  house  and  car- 
penter's shed.  There  was  no  doubt  this  was  a  rich 
place. 

Next  day  I  made  a  lot  of  bread  and  caught  a 
good  many  very  beautiful  butterflies  for  my  collec- 


90  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

tion.  The  best  way  to  carry  them  is  to  squeeze 
them  behind  the  head  and  then  put  them  in  a  piece 
of  paper  and  fold  it  up  in  a  V  shape.  To  make 
their  wings  open  out  again  when  you  wish  to  set 
them  up,  place  them  on  some  hot  sand,  and  the 
wings  will  expand. 

That  evening,  while  Mac  and  I  were  smoking 
after  dinner,  an  old  Indian  came  to  tell  us  that 
near  his  sugar-cane  field,  some  six  leagues  down  the 
river,  a  big  man-eating  tiger,  as  he  called  it,  had 
tried  to  attack  his  sixteen-year-old  boy,  and  had 
also  killed  a  small  mule  belonging  to  a  rubber 
picker.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  animals  are  of 
the  jaguar  species,  only  much  larger.  It  seemed 
his  boy  was  cutting  sugar  cane,  and  before  going 
home  went  into  the  bush  near  the  banks  of  the 
river,  to  get  guavas,  when  he  suddenly  came  across 
the  animal  eating  a  mule  he  had  just  killed ;  the 
beast,  on  seeing  the  boy,  growled,  and  the  boy 
jumped  into  the  river  just  as  the  animal  made  his 
spring.  Fortunately,  he  did  not  follow  him  into 
the  water,  although  it  is  well  known  that  these 
beasts  swim  well,  and  Indians  have  told  me  they 
have  seen  them  in  the  water  crossing  over. 

Mackenzie  could  not  join  in  the  hunt,  as  he  had 
only  just  got  over  a  bout  of  fever,  and  Perez,  too, 
was  down  with  fever;  so  it  was  decided  that  the 


JA(;UAK    AM)    l'i;.\lA    SKINS,    BOWS    AND    ARROWS    AND    WOODKN    SI'KARS 
BROUGHT    BACK    BY    Mli    FROM    BOLIVIA 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        91 

Indian  should  take  me  next  day  to  the  dead  mule, 
where  I  would  sit  up  for  the  night  on  the  chance  of 
the  jaguar  or  tiger  returning  to  his  prey. 

The  Indian,  Miguel  and  I  started  off  next  morn- 
ing after  breakfast  at  7  a.m.,  and  crossed  the  river 
by  the  wire* cable.  We  took  a  cooking  pot,  a  kettle 
and  provisions  for  three  days,  including  a  bottle  of 
rum.  The  first  part  of  the  journey  was  by  a  path 
through  the  forest,  close  to  the  river.  Some  six 
miles  from  the  village  we  saw  some  beautiful  birds 
sitting  on  a  big  wild  cotton  tree,  of  a  kind  I  had 
never  seen  before.  They  were  about  the  size  of 
doves,  light  green  in  body,  with  purple  wings, 
scarlet  breasts,  yellow  heads  and  black  beaks,  but 
they  were  not  of  the  parrot  species.  This  was  the 
only  spot  in  the  forest  where  I  noticed  these  pretty 
birds,  and  I  saw  them  at  the  same  place  coming 
back.  The  path  here  took  a  turn  to  the  right  for 
about  a  league,  amongst  beautiful  flowers  and 
creepers,  and  some  very  large  trees,  of  which 
several  were  rubber  trees.  It  was  fairly  easy  going, 
but  we  had  to  use  the  cutlass  every  now  and  then, 
and  it  was  up  and  down  hill  all  the  time,  though 
not  nearly  so  steep  as  what  we  had  been  used  to. 
Soon  the  path  turned  to  the  left  again,  and  led 
down  to  the  River  Tipuani,  just  opposite  the  Texas 
Gold  Mining  Company ;  there  was  a  small  settle- 


92  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

ment  here,  where  two  Indian  families  lived;  one 
of  the  men  was  away  picking  rubber  for  Perez,  the 
other  was  working  with  the  women  and  children  in 
their  sugar  and  maize  plantation. 

We  rested  here  for  a  little,  and  made  some  tea, 
while  one  of  the  boys  went  across  in  his  father's 
balsa  to  Charest,  the  Manager  of  the  Texas  Gold 
Company,  with  a  message  from  me,  asking  him  to 
come  along  and  join  the  jaguar  hunt,  but  he  sent 
back  word  that  he  could  not  come  as  he  had  a  touch 
of  fever  just  then. 

From  here  we  followed  down  the  banks  of  the 
Tipuani  for  a  mile  to  a  spot  where  the  river  took  a 
bend  to  the  left,  and  another  small  stream  came 
down  from  the  hills  on  the  right  and  joined  it. 
This  spot  was,  to  my  mind,  one  of  the  prettiest  I 
had  come  across.  On  the  left  was  the  powerful 
and  swiftly  flowing  Tipuani,  on  the  right  the 
stream,  and  all  around  was  the  forest,  and  the  high 
hills  crowned  with  patches  of  green  grass  with 
valleys  between  them.  There  were  high  palms 
everywhere,  and  big  green  heart  trees  in  flower, 
which  stood  out  prominently  against  the  dark 
green  of  the  forest.  Beautiful  flowers  and  creepers 
were  growing  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and 
gorgeous  blue  butterflies,  seven  or  eight  inches 
from  tip  to  tip,  and  green  and  yellow,  and  green 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        93 

and  blue  parrots  were  continually  flying  from  one 
side  of  the  river  to  the  other.  Overhead  the  sky 
was  a  clear  blue ;  here  and  there  were  a  few  big 
vultures,  flying  high  up,  and  waiting  to  swoop 
down  on  some  dead  animal  which  they  would  pick 
clean  to  the  bones.  I  thought  to  myself  how 
strange  it  was  that  this  beautiful  spot  should  be  a 
haunt  of  malaria,  where  only  the  forest  Indians 
could  live  without  constant  attacks  of  deadly  fever, 
I  took  some  views  here  with  the  kodak  I  carried. 

Up  the  stream  to  the  right  was  the  place  where 
the  man-eating  tiger  had  killed  the  mule.  On  the 
way  we  stopped  for  a  few  minutes  at  the  home  of 
my  Indian  guide,  and  saw  the  sugar  plantation 
where  his  son  was  engaged  cutting  cane.  This  man 
owned  a  few  head  of  cattle,  which  he  had  driven 
originally  from  the  forest ;  there  are  a  good  many 
wild  cattle  to  be  found  in  the  forest,  though  not 
nearly  so  many  down  here  as  in  other  parts.  About 
two  miles  from  his  place  we  came  to  the  dead  mule, 
and  found  that  the  loins  and  part  of  one  flank  had 
been  eaten  away,  and  the  throat  torn  open.  I 
asked  the  man  whether  the  animal  had  been 
poisoned,  and  he  told  me  "  not  yet."  Jaguars  and 
pumas  always  seem  to  find  out  if  a  beast  is 
poisoned  and,  if  so,  often  leave  it  and  kill  a  fresh 
beast ;  I  have  seen  this  happen  more  than  once. 


94  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Nevertheless,  these  beasts  have  very  often  been 
poisoned,  and  I  think  what  happens  is  this.  If  a 
horse,  mule  or  a  bullock  has  been  killed,  and  the 
jaguar  or  puma,  when  returning  to  his  prey,  sees 
other  animals  near,  he  will  kill  a  fresh  one  for 
the  sake  of  the  warm  blood,  which  he  will  suck 
from  the  gullet  of  the  newly-killed  beast,  but  if 
the  others  have  been  driven  away  then  he  will  go 
for  the  original  kill.  The  dead  mule  had  been 
dragged  just  inside  the  bush  from  a  small  green 
spot  where  it  had  been  killed.  The  water  in  the 
stream  here  was  about  four  feet  deep,  and  the 
stream  about  fifteen  yards  wide.  Miguel  and  I 
crossed  over  to  the  other  bank  six  feet  above  the 
stream  at  the  foot  of  the  forest,  where  I  decided  to 
wait  for  the  jaguar.  It  was  then  5.30  p.m.,  and 
the  Indian  returned  to  his  home,  promising  to 
bring  back  fresh  milk  and  eggs  for  us  in  the  morn- 
ing. After  a  good  dinner  of  challona  stew,  we  sat 
down  to  await  developments ;  I  had  my  big  Win- 
chester rifle  and  the  magazine  was  full.  The  night 
was  fine,  the  moon  almost  at  full,  and  fireflies 
everywhere.  Nothing  happened  until  9  p.m., 
when  a  big  tapir  walked  slowly  across  the  green 
into  the  forest  on  the  other  side.  A  little  later 
there  was  a  distant  peal  of  thunder,  a  sign  that  a 
storm  was  coming,  and  a  cloud  passed  over  the 


MV  CHILDRKX    IX    INDIAN    HRADGEAR,    WITH   JAGUAR   SKINS  AND  INDIAN 
WEAPONS    BROUGHT    BACK    BY    ME    FROM    BOLIVIA 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        95 

moon  for  a  few  minutes,  but  it  was  soon  clear 
again.  I  looked  at  my  watch,  and  it  was  a  few 
minutes  before  ten.  A  minute  or  two  after,  we 
heard  a  movement  in  the  bush  opposite,  and  a  long 
animal  the  size  of  a  small  donkey  walked  out  on  to 
the  green  patch  in  front.  He  noticed  us  at  once, 
stood  still  broadside  on,  and  turned  his  head  and 
looked  at  us.  It  was  the  man-eater  and  mule- 
killer,  and  a  splendid  chance  to  get  him.  The 
moon  was  clear  of  clouds,  and  he  could  be  seen 
quite  distinctly.  I  took  steady  aim,  with  the 
muzzle  pointing  dead  behind  the  shoulder,  and 
pulled  the  trigger,  only  to  find  that  the  cartridge 
missed  fire.  I  quickly  slipped  it  out  again,  and 
pushed  in  another,  but  the  same  thing  happened. 
In  went  a  third,  to  no  purpose,  and  then  without 
turning  round  I  said  to  Miguel,  who  was  a  few 
feet  behind  me,  ''  Something  has  gone  wrong  with 
my  rifle ;  if  he  comes  across  to  us,  you  take  the  cut- 
lass, and  I  will  take  the  axe,  and  we  will  club  him 
if  we  can  while  he  climbs  up  the  bank."  For- 
tunately, he  never  came,  but  after  looking  at  us  for 
a  minute  or  two  he  turned  round  quietly  and  went 
back  into  the  forest,  and  we  saw  no  more  of  him 
that  night. 

The  misfiring  of  the  rifle  was  most  unfortunate, 
but  entirely  my  own  fault,  as  I  discovered  a  few 


96  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

days  later.  I  had  kept  it  well  cleaned  and  oiled, 
both  inside  and  out,  but  had  forgotten  to  fire  a 
trial  shot  before  leaving  Mackenzie's  place,  and  on 
taking  the  trigger  off  I  found  a  small  bit  of  gravel 
grit  jamming  it,  with  the  result  that,  although  the 
trigger  worked  well  enough,  it  failed  to  touch  the 
cap.  As  soon  as  I  put  it  on  again,  it  fired  as  usual, 
and  here  wa^  I  abusing  the  cartridges,  when  it  was 
my  fault  all  the  time  for  not  trying  a  shot  first. 
It  just  shows  that  you  can't  be  too  careful. 

A  little  after  11  p.m.  began  a  regular  tropical 
downpour  of  rain  which  never  ceased  till  about 
6  a.m.,  when  the  sun  came  out  in  all  its  warmth. 
The  air  was  delightfully  fresh,  the  birds  began  to 
fly,  and  everything  looked  bright  again,  but  we 
were  both  soaking  wet,  and  the  stream  had  turned 
into  a  torrent.  The  water  had  risen  about  five  feet, 
nearly  to  the  top  of  the  bank  on  the  side  we  had 
camped,  and  the  green  patch  on  the  other  side 
where  the  tiger  and  tapir  had  appeared  was  entirely 
submerged.  It  had  been  an  uncomfortable  night, 
and  for  a  few  minutes  we  had  been  in  a  real  funk. 
I  stripped  naked  and  put  all  my  things  out  to  dry 
in  the  sun,  and  after  drying  some  wood  we  soon 
got  a  fire  going.  Although  the  matches  were 
carried  in  a  tin,  and  that  again  in  another  tin,  they 
still  had  to  be  sundried  first.     We  had  filled  our 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        97 

kettle,  pot  and  water-flasks  with  water  after  dinner 
the  night  before,  and  it  came  in  very  useful  now. 
It  is  always  advisable  to  procure  water  overnight 
for  the  next  morning,  especially  in  the  rainy 
season ;  I  always  did  this  and  got  my  firewood  as 
well.  We  soon  had  a  wholesome  challona  stew  and 
some  hot  coffee  ready,  which  made  a  welcome 
breakfast. 

Miguel  had  now  a  severe  dose  of  fever  coming 
on;  in  fact,  this  was  the  start  of  his  Tipuani 
terciana,  and  from  this  time  on  he  had  it  con- 
stantly for  the  rest  of  the  journey.  It  was  partly 
owing  to  his  own  perverseness,  as  instead  of  keep- 
ing pace  with  Manuel,  myself  and  the  llamas,  he 
would  often  walk  off  quickly  up  the  hills,  and  sit 
down  on  the  top  grinning  and  waiting  for  me ;  and 
he  did  not  take  his  wet  clothes  off  and  hang  them 
out  to  dry,  as  I  did.  My  clothes  soon  dried  in  the 
sun,  and  Miguel  thought  better  of  it,  and  began  to 
dry  his.  The  river  began  to  go  down  again,  and  at 
three  in  the  afternoon  the  Indian  came  walking  up 
the  stream,  with  the  water  up  to  his  middle  nearly, 
probing  the  bottom  with  a  long,  thick  stick.  He 
sympathized  with  us  very  much  over  our  bad  luck 
the  night  before.  I  told  him  I  would  not  like  to 
go  back  without  another  try  for  the  man-eater,  and 
he  said  there  was  a  rubber-picker  living  not  far 


©8  ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

from  his  place  who  had  a  rifle,  though  not  as  big  a 
one  as  mine,  and  he  would  send  his  boy  with  a  note 
from  me  for  the  loan  of  it.  As  I  had  not  yet  dis- 
covered what  was  wrong  with  my  rifle,  I  was  glad 
to  accept  his  offer,  and  so  we  walked,  or  rather 
waded,  along  the  edge  of  the  stream  to  his  place, 
I  carrying  my  pants  and  boots,  and  wearing  alpa- 
gatas  to  shield  my  feet  from  stones. 

When  we  got  to  the  bend,  we  found  that  the 
river  was  full  of  a  good  volume  of  water  running 
down  at  nine  or  ten  knots.  I  could  see  by  the 
banks  that  it  had  risen  fifteen  feet  as  a  result  of  the 
storm,  and  the  Indian  said  more  than  that.  It 
had  been  my  intention  to  go  over  to  Charest's 
place,  but  no  balsa  could  have  lived  in  that  tur- 
bulent stream.  So  I  put  up  at  the  Indian's  place. 
His  wife  had  just  killed  and  plucked  a  fine  fat  fowl, 
which  she  gave  me  with  some  maize  tortillas,  and  a 
pineapple,  refusing  all  payment.  Her  husband 
told  her  I  had  walked  twenty  miles  to  his  place  to 
try  and  rid  them  of  the  man-eater. 

The  rubber-picker  soon  came  over  with  his  rifle 
and  mauser  and  five  cartridges.  He  looked  pretty 
sick  with  fever,  and  was  out  of  quinine  and  coca 
leaves.  I  told  him  I  would  be  very  glad  to  give 
him  a  little  of  each,  as  I  had  a  good  supply,  and  a 
bottle  of  Noboa's  rum  as  well,  if  he  would  send 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA        99 

some  one  with  me  to  bring  them  back ;  he  was  very 
thankful  for  the  oflFer,  and  I  was  also  grateful  for 
the  use  of  his  boy,  who  could  carry  back  my  rifle 
and  gear  for  me.  Miguel  was  sick  and,  although 
the  two  days'  rest  would  probably  freshen  him  up 
a  bit,  he  would  have  quite  enough  to  do  to  walk 
back  the  twenty  miles  with  nothing  to  carry. 

Next  morning,  after  an  early  breakfast,  I  started 
off  again  along  the  stream  to  the  dead  mule,  with 
the  Indian,  his  son,  and  three  other  Indians,  and 
six  mongrel  dogs.  I  went  first,  about  an  hour 
ahead  of  them,  to  the  spot  opposite  the  green 
patch,  and  waited  there  while  they  walked  through 
the  bush  on  the  other  side,  beating  the  trees  with 
sticks,  and  making  a  good  noise. 

The  first  thing  that  came  out  and  crossed  the 
long  narrow  gully  at  the  back  of  the  green  patch  in 
front  of  me  was  a  small  bush  buck,  then  soon  after- 
wards a  good-sized  tapir,  and  finally  a  young 
swamp  deer,  but  no  jaguar ;  I  could  have  got  each 
of  these  easily,  but  wanted  to  keep  my  shot  for  the 
man-eater.  When  the  Indians  came  out  and  had 
had  a  rest,  I  sent  them  up  the  stream  on  my  side, 
and  told  them  to  walk  on  for  an  hour  or  two,  and 
then  beat  down  the  other  side.  I  promised  them 
to  get  a  deer  for  fresh  meat  if  another  was  driven 
out.      After  another  two  hours,   a  second  tapir 


100        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

crossed  the  narrow  gully  further  up,  about  two 
hundred  yards  from  the  green  patch ;  I  did  not  see 
him  until  he  was  just  entering  the  bush  on  the 
other  side,  so  did  not  fire.  Half  an  hour  later 
came  another  small  bush  deer,  and  at  the  same 
time  I  heard  a  rustling  in  the  bushes  on  the  other 
side,  close  to  the  stream,  and  out  came  a  fine 
swamp  deer,  which  I  secured  for  our  lunch. 

The  yelping  of  the  dogs  now  announced  the 
approach  of  the  beaters.  They  said  they  had  seen 
the  tracks  of  the  jaguar,  evidently  made  quite 
freshly  that  morning  or  the  night  before,  and  had 
gone  on  over  the  hill  on  the  way  to  Challana.  If 
we  had  beaten  this  side  first,  instead  of  the  other, 
we  might  possibly  have  caught  him,  though  he 
might  have  gone  on  quite  early  in  the  morning. 
Anyway,  he  had  not  touched  the  mule,  which  was 
now  beginning  to  smell,  and  to  attract  a  dozen  or 
more  vultures,  which  were  hovering  round  about 
waiting  to  finish  it  oflf,  as  soon  as  the  coast  was 
clear. 

In  the  morning  we  went  back  to  Tipuani  village. 
Miguel  was  better,  and  the  rubber-picker  lent  me 
his  rifle  to  take  on  to  Challana  with  me  in  case  I 
could  not  repair  mine.  I  eventually  found  out 
what  was  wrong,  as  has  already  been  explained. 
On  the  way  back  we  saw  the  same  pretty  green, 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      101 

purple  and  scarlet  birds  as  we  saw  coming;  they 
were  in  exactly  the  same  place,  and  were  flying  to 
and  fro  near  the  same  cotton  tree. 

On  the  way  back  I  looked  in  at  Noboa's,  and  he 
told  me  no  Challana  men  had  come  yet,  so  I  asked 
him  to  try  and  get  me  five  or  six  men  from  the 
neighbourhood  to  go  on  with  me.  He  said  he 
would,  and  promised  to  come  over  and  let  me  know 
the  result  in  a  couple  of  days'  time.  Perez  was 
still  down  with  fever,  and  during  my  absence  three 
men  had  come  in  with  rubber ;  one  of  them,  a  half- 
caste,  was  pretty  sick  with  fever.  I  noticed  that 
many  of  the  rubber  balls  were  sliced  down  the 
middle,  and  was  told  this  was  done  now  and  then 
to  see  that  there  was  not  a  good  round  heavy  water 
stone  put  in  the  middle  to  make  weight,  as  some 
Indian  pickers  are  very  crafty. 

When  I  got  back  I  found  Mackenzie  was  going 
to  wash  up  next  day,  so  I  asked  him  to  lend  me  a 
pan,  and  let  me  help  him.  I  was  anxious  to  see 
how  much  gold  came  out  of  the  heap  of  dirt  and 
gravel,  dug  out  of  the  mine  tunnel  by  the  two  men 
in  three  days.  Mac  and  I  panned  it  out  next  day, 
and  it  gave  3ozs.  6dr.  Iscr.  of  beautiful  straw- 
coloured  Tipuani  gold.  There  were  no  nuggets  of 
any  size,  and  no  rough  gold,  which  showed  that  it 
had  travelled  far,  and,  in  my  opinion,  that  there 


102        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

was  no  reef  near  at  hand.  They  said  on  the  Satur- 
day that  they  were  not  going  to  work  again  until 
Tuesday,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  did  not  start 
till  Wednesday. 

A  curious  incident  occurred  one  day  about  this 
time.  Some  Indians  returning  to  the  Beni  dis- 
trict had  met  some  women  belonging  to  the 
Tipuani  district  and  wanted  to  marry  two  of  them 
and  take  them  to  the  Beni  district,  but  the  women 
were  unwilling  and  this  led  to  a  quarrel  among  the 
men.  The  relations  of  the  women  attacked  the 
ten  men  from  the  Beni ;  they  chopped  one  another 
about  a  bit  with  cutlasses  and  fought  with  hard 
wood  sticks,  while  the  two  women  and  their  friends 
tried  to  pacify  them.  Finally  it  was  suggested 
that  they  should  all  go  over  to  see  the  two  English- 
men across  the  river.  Mac  and  I  were  in  the 
carpenter's  shop  making  sleepers  when  they  ar- 
rived in  a  body.  There  were  twenty-seven  of 
them  in  all,  several  of  the  men  with  their  heads 
bandaged.  They  told  us  the  cause  of  the  row,  and 
we  told  them  that  if  the  women  were  of  age  they 
should  be  allowed  to  please  themselves.  If  they 
wished  to  marry  the  two  men  from  the  Beni  then 
they  should  be  allowed  to  do  so,  and  leave  with 
them ;  if  not,  the  Beni  men  had  no  right  to  make 
trouble  over  it  and  should  cease  to  molest  them, 


PROM  TIPUANI  TO  JP AROMA      16S 

and  continue  their  return  journey  in  peace.  After 
some  talking  this  was  agreed  to,  and  the  women 
were  asked  their  wishes.  They  both  said  they  did 
not  wish  to  leave  their  own  district  and  cared 
nothing  at  all  for  the  two  men  that  wanted  them. 
Mac  and  I  then  told  the  men  from  the  Beni  that 
they  were  to  blame  for  the  quarrel,  and  we  also 
told  the  others  they  were  wrong  in  coming  in  as 
they  did  and  attacking  the  Beni  men,  whose 
wounds  were  chiefly  on  the  back  of  their  heads 
which  showed  they  had  been  attacked  from  be- 
hind. Eventually  they  came  to  an  understanding, 
and  after  we  had  mixed  up  a  big  bottle  of  water 
with  a  little  lysol  and  a  little  lint  and  dressed  their 
heads  they  left  with  many  thanks  to  us,  and  much 
shaking  of  hands  among  themselves.  The  Beni 
men  crossed  the  river  in  the  canoes  belonging  to 
the  Tipuani  men  and  took  the  path  back  to  the 
Beni,  while  the  others  and  the  two  women  over 
whom  the  dispute  had  arisen  returned  to  their 
homes. 

A  few  days  after  this  Bert  Morton,  an  American 
miner,  passed  through  the  Tipuani  village.  I  met 
him  walking  behind  his  three  large  mules  on  the 
way  back  to  La  Paz,  he  had  been  prospecting  for 
rubber  for  a  house  in  Lima,  and  about  a  month 
before  he  had  blown  off  the  half  of  two  fingers  of 


104        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

his  right  hand  in  doing  what  I  call  the  silly  trick 
of  throwing  dynamite  in  the  river  pools  to  get  a 
supply  of  fish.  One  cartridge  had  exploded  and 
caused  the  injury.  Fish  got  this  way  are  never 
much  good;  they  don't  have  the  same  flavour. 

On  the  next  Monday  Noboa  came  over  and  told 
me  that  no  natives  had  come  yet  from  Challana; 
and  that  nobody  from  the  neighbourhood  cared  to 
go  in  with  him,  as  they  said  the  Indians  and  half- 
castes  in  Challana  were  hostile,  that  they  had 
guards  with  rifles  all  along  the  river  Challana 
wherever  you  could  cross  by  balsa,  and  that  the 
river  was  deep  and  the  current  strong,  and  there 
was  no  balsa  ever  kept  on  this  side.  He  strongly 
advised  me  not  to  continue  the  journey ;  and 
thought  they  would  not  let  me  cross,  and  if  they 
did  they  might  not  allow  me  to  return.  Mac  was 
of  the  same  opinion,  and  said  he  had  been  here 
sixteen  years  and  had  never  ventured  into  their 
country,  but  if  I  still  insisted  on  going  he  would 
lend  me  his  old  mule,  which  I  accepted  with 
thanks.  I  told  them  that  if  my  way  was  barred 
when  I  got  to  the  river  I  would  turn  back. 

The  following  day  I  got  together  provisions 
and  gear  for  a  fortnight — bread,  half  a  challona, 
some  plantain,  eschalot,  coffee,  tea,  salt,  six  tins 
of  corned  beef,  three  bottles  of  Noboa's  rum,  a 


PROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      105 

water-flask,  my  rifle  and  fifty  cartridges,  my  six- 
shooter,  cutlass  and  bedding — a  good  load  for 
Mac's  mule. 

Next  day  I  started,  with  Miguel  leading  the 
mule.  We  crossed  the  river  by  the  cable,  Miguel 
going  first  with  the  help  of  the  two  Barbadians 
living  opposite,  then  all  the  provisions  and  myself ; 
the  mule  swam  across  behind  the  balsa  which  was 
paddled  and  propelled  by  the  Indian.  Noboa  met 
me  on  the  other  side,  and  took  me  along  to  a  small 
trail,  which  led  to  a  stream;  by  following  it  he 
said  I  would  come  out  in  full  view  of  the  big 
River  Challana.  There  was  a  nearer  way,  by  a 
better  trail,  which  I  thought  it  better  not  to  take, 
as  I  wanted  to  get  to  the  banks  of  the  river  without 
meeting  anyone.  I  felt  sure  that  when  I  got  there 
I  should  find  an  order  from  Villarde  to  let  me 
cross  over. 

The  path  was  a  narrow  one,  overgrown  below 
with  bushes  and  creepers,  and  overhead  with 
branches  of  trees  which  often  had  to  be  cut  off  to 
make  room  for  the  mule  to  pass.  I  was  using  the 
machete  most  of  the  time,  while  Miguel  was  rest- 
ing; he  had  only  just  got  over  his  first  attack  of 
fever.  Often  we  took  off^  our  trousers  and  walked 
for  a  long  way  in  the  stream  itself ;  it  saved  cut- 
lassing,  and  was  easier  going.      The  forest  was 


106        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

alive  with  birds  of  all  sorts  and  butterflies  of  all 
colours.  I  got  a  big  martinette  with  a  pistol  shot 
on  the  ground  at  a  few  yards'  range,  and  we  saw 
the  spoor  of  deer  and  the  tracks  of  wild  pigs.  The 
first  day  we  did  ten  miles,  which  was  pretty  good, 
but  the  first  four  were  easy  going.  That  night 
we  made  camp  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  near 
a  beautiful  cool  pool  over  five  feet  deep  in  the 
middle.  Growing  low  down  on  some  trees  close 
to  the  pool  were  two  lovely  orchids  of  a  brilliant 
scarlet  colour,  with  yellow  centre.  One  had  three 
blossoms  and  the  other  four;  they  were  growing 
together  4s  one  plant,  and  had  five  more  blossoms 
ready  to  burst  in  a  day  or  so.  I  should  say  this 
was  a  scarlet  cattleya;  in  any  case,  it  must  have 
been  a  very  rare  specimen  of  orchid,  because, 
although  I  saw  many  varieties  on  my  journey,  and 
often  the  same  specimens  repeated,  I  never  came 
across  this  particular  specimen  again. 

The  next  day  we  made  six  miles  and  camped 
near  the  stream  on  a  stony  beach,  where  there  was 
plenty  of  grass  in  patches  for  the  mule ;  the  pre- 
vious night  the  grass  had  been  rather  scanty. 
While  I  was  bathing  in  a  pool  near,  a  fine  swamp 
deer  came  out  of  the  forest  to  the  waterside;  he 
did  not  seem  at  all  scared,  but  stood  and  looked 
at  me  for  quite  a  few  minutes,  which  showed  that 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      107 

human  beings  were  scarce  in  these  parts.  I  have 
frequently  noticed  vicunas  doing  the  same  thing  in 
some  of  the  fastnesses  of  the  Andes  near  the  snow 
line,  when  I  have  been  prospecting. 

The  next  day  was  a  failure,  for  after  it  had  taken 
us  about  three  hours  to  go  the  same  number  of 
miles,  I  doing  all  the  cutlass  work,  we  came  to  an 
enormous  tree  across  the  path  with  such  thick, 
heavy-looking  undergrowth  on  one  side,  and  so 
little  clear  space  on  the  other,  that  I  decided  to 
go  back  to  the  scarlet  orchids  of  the  night  before, 
which  we  did.  The  next  morning,  while  bathing, 
I  had  another  look  at  them.  Three  more  beautiful 
petals  had  burst,  and  there  were  now  ten  opened 
out. 

After  breakfast  I  started  to  open  up  another 
dim  trail  that  could  be  seen  nearer  the  river,  a 
much  narrower  one  than  the  path  of  the  day  be- 
fore. It  was  rough  hot  work,  hewing  and  chop- 
ping down  bush  and  small  trees  to  make  way  for 
the  mule ;  all  these  paths  made  by  the  forest  In- 
dians are  low  and  narrow.  Amongst  other  things 
I  saw  that  day  were  forty  or  fifty  big  coffee- 
coloured  monkeys,  which  were  very  tame,  and 
seemed  to  follow  us  along  the  trees  from  branch 
to  branch.  I  have  seen  some  monkeys  in  different 
parts  of  the  world  in  my  time,  but  I  never  came 

9 


108        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

across  such  climbers  as  these.  They  simply  walked 
up  and  down  big  high  trees  and  jumped  from  one 
to  the  other  with  the  most  perfect  ease,  chattering 
and  talking  all  the  time  till  late  in  the  afternoon, 
when  they  would  disappear. 

We  made  camp  by  the  stream  that  night,  and 
I  hung  up  the  remains  of  the  challona  on  a  tree 
a  few  yards  away  from  the  camp,  together  ^\^th 
about  six  or  eight  plantains  that  were  still  green. 
In  the  morning  when  Miguel  went  to  look  for 
them,  after  he  had  put  the  kettle  and  stewpot  on, 
he  found  them  gone.  I  examined  the  ground, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  one  of  the  big 
dark  brown  bears  that  inhabit  the  hills  must  have 
come  down  the  valley  and  taken  them  off.  We 
had  to  put  up  with  corned  beef  for  breakfast,  but 
there  were  always  plenty  of  guavas  as  well ;  the 
guava  trees  were  all  round,  and  the  mule  seemed 
to  enjoy  eating  them  :  he  was  always  munching 
them  off  the  trees. 

Once  we  had  started,  the  trail  was  fairly  easy 
going,  in  comparison,  that  is,  to  what  it  had  been, 
for  about  five  miles.  Then  we  came  across  a  hard- 
wood tree ;  it  was  not  a  very  big  one,  but  it  took 
me  an  hour  and  a  half's  sweating  w^ork  to  chop  it 
through. 

A  little  way  further  on,  the  mule  absolutely 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      109 

refused  to  move.  I  went  on  a  few  yards  to  see 
what  the  ground  was  like,  and  found  a  lot  of  bush 
cut  down  and  lying  across  the  path.  I  probed  it 
with  my  long  stick,  and  found  it  quite  hollow 
underneath,  and  could  not  touch  the  bottom.  It 
turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  "  tiger  "  traps  made 
by  the  Indians.  They  dig  a  hole  with  per- 
pendicular sides,  about  twelve  feet  deep,  four  or 
five  feet  wide,  and  eight  or  ten  feet  long,  and 
then  cover  it  over  lightly  with  branches  and  bush. 
The  tiger  falling  into  one  of  these  cannot  get  out, 
and  is  easily  despatched ;  sometimes  two  or  three 
stakes  are  driven  in  at  the  bottom.  My  mule  had 
evidently  smelt  the  earth  that  had  been  thrown 
up,  which  we  had  not  noticed.  I  opened  out 
another  path  on  the  right,  and  about  half  a  mile 
further  on  we  came  to  a  clearing  and  a  well-kept 
bamboo  and  palm  shelter,  with  a  good  stream  of 
water  running  down  in  the  hollow  below,  and  some 
big  blue  and  mauve  cattleyas  growing  on  some 
branches  near.  Near  the  shelter  was  a  large  cairn 
of  stones  with  a  flat  piece  of  iron  sticking  up.  I 
was  told  that  this  spot  marks  the  commencement 
of  Challana,  according  to  the  Indian  claim.  The 
River  Challana  is  fifteen  miles  from  here. 

The  next  day  when  I  was  half-way  up  a  hill,  I 
beard  the  tap  tap  of  a  rubber-picker,  and  shouted 


110        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

to  him.  A  few  minutes  afterwards,  an  Indian 
came  out  of  the  forest  by  a  narrow  path  on  the 
left ;  he  proved  to  be  from  Challana,  and  Hved  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river.  He  was  picking  rub- 
ber with  another  man,  and  said  there  were  not  so 
many  rubber  trees  on  this  side,  but  on  the  other 
side  there  were  a  good  many,  and  further  on  many 
more.  He  told  me  I  was  expected  and  that 
Villarde  had  notified  his  lieutenant,  Cortez,  to  put 
me  across  at  a  place  called  Anhuaqui,  about  eight 
leagues  from  here.  He  said  I  could  not  cross 
before  reaching  there,  as  the  river  was  wide  and 
deep  and  the  current  swift.  Evidently,  no  Indians 
lived  on  this  side  at  all,  they  just  came  over  the 
river  to  pick  rubber.  The  Indian  said  that  Thomas 
Cortez  was  the  head  man  at  Anhuaqui,  and  no- 
body could  cross  the  river  without  his  permission. 
He  took  his  orders  from  Villarde,  and  Villarde  did 
nothing  before  getting  the  consent  of  the  old 
Cacique  of  Challana,  who  lived  at  Paroma  on  the 
hills,  twenty  leagues  from  Anhuaqui. 

He  told  me  I  would  not  be  able  to  reach 
Anhuaqui  that  day,  as  the  next  hill  was  a  very 
hard  one,  but  when  I  got  to  the  top  I  would  see 
the  big  river  way  down  on  the  left,  and  was  to  take 
a  path  to  the  right,  at  a  fork  where  there  were 
two  big  shelters  of  poles  and  palm-leaf  roofs.     I 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      111 

asked  him  about  the  '*  tiger  "  trap  we  passed  the 
day  before,  and  he  said  there  was  another  one  not 
far  from  that  one  down  a  little  path  to  the  left. 
When  a  jaguar  or  tiger,  as  they  call  them,  is 
known  to  be  about,  they  tie  up  a  mule  or  calf 
overnight  close  to  the  pit,  and  come  back  in  the 
morning  to  see  what  has  happened.  The  Govern- 
ment pay  25  bols  (about  £2  10s.)  for  the  skull  and 
jaws  of  every  jaguar  of  the  larger  size,  and  of 
course  the  hide  can  be  sold  as  well.  This  man 
talked  Spanish,  as  he  was  not  a  pure  Indian.  His 
father,  he  said,  came  from  Sorata,  and  was  now 
living  at  Anhuaqui,  and  his  mother  was  a  pure 
Indian  woman.  He  asked  me  for  a  little  coca, 
which  I  gave  him  :  he  said  they  were  short  of  coca 
just  then,  as  they  had  only  brought  a  supply  for 
two  or  three  days,  and  expected  a  companion  next 
day  from  Anhuaqui  with  two  mules  and  provisions 
for  a  fortnight. 

Just  after  crossing  the  stream,  I  heard  the 
movement  of  an  animal  in  the  forest,  took  my  rifle, 
and  had  a  lucky  shot.  It  was  a  small  swamp  deer, 
for  which  I  was  thankful,  and  we  looked  forward 
to  our  venison  stew  that  night.  We  got  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  mentioned  by  the  rubber-picker  at 
three  in  the  afternoon,  and  made  camp  in  the  two 
shelters.     The  view  was  like  a  park — long  grass 


112        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

and  clumps  of  trees  for  miles  around,  and  high 
forest  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  On  the  left  the 
stream  we  had  just  crossed  continued  its  course  to 
the  river  below,  and  near  it  stood  the  ruined  walls 
of  a  stone  building.  Nobody  was  in  sight,  and  no 
dwellings  could  be  seen.  Parrots  large  and  small 
screeched  overhead,  and  macaws  could  be  heard  on 
the  trees  close  by.  I  went  to  look  at  one,  of  a 
beautiful  heliotrope  colour,  which  was  sitting  on  a 
high  palm  at  the  edge  of  the  forest ;  I  stood  below 
the  tree  for  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  admiring  it, 
and  it  never  moved. 

That  evening  Miguel  had  another  attack  of 
malaria,  and  so  we  had  to  remain  here  the  next 
two  days,  and  I  had  to  cut  firewood,  cook,  look 
after  the  mule,  and  do  everything.  The  first  day 
the  man  referred  to  by  the  Indian  rubber-picker 
passed  the  camp  with  his  two  mules.  I  got 
another  bush  turkey  at  close  range  with  the  six- 
shooter  in  the  evening  at  sundown.  On  the  third 
morning  at  7  a.m.  we  left :  the  first  eight  or  nine 
miles  took  us  up  and  down  hill  through  the 
beautiful  park-like  scenery,  then  came  dense  forest 
again,  downhill  all  the  way  for  seven  miles,  to  the 
big  River  Challana.  The  road  was  pretty  good, 
and  I  had  no  cutlass  work  to  do.  At  the  bottom 
of  the  hill,  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  along  the 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      118 

bank,  there  was  a  clearing  and  a  fair-sized  shed, 
open  at  the  two  ends ;  it  was  closed  up  on  the 
forest  side  with  palm  leaves  and  bamboo  and  open 
on  the  river  side. 

As  soon  as  we  got  to  the  river,  I  fired  off  two 
cartridges  in  the  air,  as  a  signal  to  the  inhabitants 
on  the  other  side.  A  few  minutes  afterwards 
three  men  came  over  in  a  balsa ;  by  poling  for  three 
hundred  yards  close  to  the  bank  on  their  side,  and 
then  crossing  over  with  the  long  poles  as  fast  as 
they  could,  they  brought  up  the  balsa  to  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  hut.  One  of  the  men,  who  was 
a  half-caste,  a  middle-aged  man,  and  spoke 
Spanish,  had  a  rifle,  and  took  a  letter  from  his 
buckskin  bag,  and  handed  it  to  me.  It  was  from 
Villarde,  and  read  :  '*  I  am  glad  to  welcome  you 
in  our  country  and  have  ordered  my  lieutenant, 
Thomas  Cortez,  to  prepare  a  house  for  you  at  his 
place,  where  you  had  better  stop  for  ten  days  and 
rest  after  your  long  rough  journey ;  in  the  mean- 
time, I  shall  call  a  meeting  of  the  chiefs  and  prin- 
cipal Indians,  to  receive  you  at  the  Court  House 
in  Paroma  in  fourteen  days  from  the  day  you  get 
this  letter.  You  must  cross  over  and  come  by 
yourself,  and  not  bring  any  followers  with  you. 
Cortez  has  orders  to  provide  you  with  a  servant. 
With  salutations,  I  remain,  your  attentive  servant, 
Lorenzo  Villarde.'' 


114        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

In  any  case  Miguel,  with  his  continual  break- 
downs of  fever,  was  not  of  much  use  as  far  as 
serving  me  was  concerned ;  and  I  decided  it  would 
be  best  for  him,  on  the  whole,  to  go  slowly  back 
to  Tipuani  by  the  regular  path,  which  the  rubber- 
pickers  would  direct  him  to,  at  the  place  where  we 
had  met  them. 

The  man  with  the  note,  whose  name  was  Jose, 
said  he  would  now  return  to  tell  Cortez,  who  would 
despatch  a  messenger  to  Paroma.  I  asked  them 
to  return  again  next  daj  for  me,  and  he  said  he 
would  bring  over  a  big  balsa  of  five  stout  poles  for 
me,  and  a  platform  with  seat  attached  next  morn- 
ing after  breakfast.  All  that  night  the  mule  was 
very  restive  and  kept  on  coming  into  the  shelter, 
which  made  me  think  that  some  jaguar  was  about, 
so  we  put  plenty  of  wood  on  the  fire,  and  made  a 
big  blaze  and  kept  the  lamp  burning  in  the  shed ; 
I  always  carry  a  horn  lantern  for  a  candle.  I  sat 
up  near  the  fire  with  my  rifle  till  close  on  eleven. 
No  animal  appeared,  but  I  distinctly  heard  move- 
ments in  the  forest,  and  the  mule  fed  very  close 
to  the  shed.  In  the  morning  I  had  a  good  bathe, 
being  careful  to  keep  my  eyes  on  the  bottom  most 
of  the  time,  as  in  most  of  these  tropical  rivers  there 
are  man-eating  fish,  called  piranhas,  only  eighteen 
inches  long,  but  very  ferocious,  with  teeth  like  a 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      115 

saw,  which  attack  you  and  bite  lumps  out  of  you 
on  the  slightest  provocation.  In  some  rivers  in 
these  parts,  when  a  balsa  has  been  capsized  and 
its  occupants  have  been  thrown  out  and  got  cut 
about  on  the  sunken  rocks,  these  little  monsters 
seem  to  come  from  all  around,  attracted  by  the 
sight  of  blood.  They  will  often  snap  a  finger  or 
a  toe  off,  and  have  been  known  to  strip  a  dead 
body  of  every  particle  of  flesh,  leaving  the  bones 
bare.  Another  of  the  dangers  to  beware  of  in 
bathing  in  tropical  rivers,  or  streams  of  South  or 
Central  America  is  a  kind  of  slimy  leech,  three  or 
four  inches  long,  called  Kandiros,  which  get  up 
the  rectum.  They  are  as  thick  as  a  worm,  and 
have  a  small  dorsal  fin  that  acts  as  a  barb.  The 
only  way  to  get  rid  of  them  is  to  have  them  cut  out. 

The  Rivers  Tipuani,  Challana  and  Beni  contain 
a  good  many  fish,  most  of  them  good  to  eat,  and 
some  very  large,  but,  like  most  of  the  fish  in 
tropical  rivers,  too  full  of  bones. 

After  my  bath,  while  Miguel  was  preparing 
breakfast,  I  found  tracks  of  a  big  jaguar,  evidently 
the  disturber  of  the  mule  the  night  before.  The 
marks  showed  that  the  beast  had  made  for  the 
pampas  we  had  passed  the  day  before. 

After  breakfast  the  men  came  over  with  a  big 
five-pole  balsa,  and  took  me  across.    They  told  me 


116        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

that  the  river  at  this  crossing  was  seventeen  feet 
deep  in  parts.  There  were  several  settlements  on 
the  bank,  inhabited  by  Indians ;  Thomas  Cortez's 
place  consisted  of  five  sheds  made  of  poles  and 
roofed  with  palm  branches  and  wild  banana  leaves. 
He  gave  me  a  good  big  one  with  a  bamboo  bed 
almost  three  feet  high  and  three  feet  broad  and 
seven  feet  long.  There  were  some  fowls,  turkeys 
and  pigs  and  two  cows  tied  up  close  by.  I  told 
Cortez  that  I  was  not  tired,  and  could  easily  con- 
tinue the  journey,  but  he  replied  that  we  could 
not  proceed  for  ten  days,  as  those  were  his  orders. 
He  had  been  told  to  look  well  after  me,  and  every 
day  his  wife  brought  me  good  food,  eggs,  milk  and 
coffee  in  the  morning,  stewed  fowl  and  rice  and 
fruit  and  bread  at  1  p.m.,  and  a  good  meal 
again  at  night.  She  also  washed  my  clothes. 
They  had  guns  and  rifles  there,  and  shot 
a  good  deal  of  game,  especially  poujil  (pro- 
nounced pooheel),  which  are  birds  about  the 
size  of  a  big  fowl,  and  very  good  to  eat;  they 
shoot  them  as  they  are  roosting  on  the  trees. 
They  never  fire  imless  they  are  quite  close  to  the 
bird,  as  powder  and  shot  are  too  scarce  in  this 
out-of-the-way  place  to  be  wasted  on  fancy  shots. 
All  the  natives  here  sleep  either  on  the  floor  or  on 
a  bamboo  bed,  and  very  few  of  them  have  ham- 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  P AROMA      117 

mocks,  unlike  the  natives  of  Guiana  and  Vene- 
zuela, where  every  one  carried  his  bed,  a  light  net 
made  from  fibre  or  strong  cotton,  which  is  hung 
up  between  poles  on  branches  of  trees.  While  I 
was  here,  I  shot  a  big  swamp  deer  on  the  run,  as 
he  was  crossing  one  of  the  narrow  Indian  trails ; 
to  the  great  satisfaction  of  Cortez,  who  said  that 
the  meat  would  be  good  roasted.  Every  night 
Cortez  slept  in  my  hut,  at  the  further  end,  and 
there  was  always  a  man  on  sentry  duty  all  night. 
When  I  went  for  my  bath  each  morning  at  6  a.m., 
two  armed  men  always  stood  a  little  distance  off, 
though  the  stream  I  bathed  in  was  only  a  few 
yards  from  my  hut,  as  I  used  to  go  down  in 
my  nightshirt  and  dress  by  the  river.  After 
breakfast  I  generally  took  a  net  and  went  down  to 
the  banks  of  the  Challana  to  catch  butterflies.  I 
was  always  escorted  by  two  armed  men  with  rifles, 
who  followed  a  short  distance  behind.  They  took 
every  precaution  never  to  let  me  out  of  their  sight ; 
later  on  Villarde  told  me  the  reason  why.  Cortez 
told  me  that  they  had  a  great  quantity  of  rubber 
for  sale  both  here  and  at  Paroma,  and  that  the 
price  was  regulated  by  the  Cacique  at  Paroma, 
nobody  being  allowed  to  sell  for  more  than  one 
hundred  bolivians  a  quintal;  this  worked  out  at 
1/10  per  lb.,  and  the  market  price  in  La  Paz  was 


118        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

then  4/6.  Out  of  every  100  bols,  ten  bols  was 
paid  to  the  Cacique,  and  all  rubber  collected  by 
the  Indians  in  this  district  and  Paroma  paid 
ten  bols  per  lOOlbs.  to  Villarde  as  well.  On 
the  Tongo  side  where  Villavicencia,  Villarde 's 
brother-in-law,  was  in  charge,  the  same  payment 
was  made.  Villarde  was  a  rich  man,  for  out  of  his 
share  he  kept  half,  the  balance  going  to  his  various 
lieutenants  in  the  different  districts.  Each  district 
paid  separately,  so  that  some  were  better  off  than 
others.  By  this  system  the  pickers  got  80  bols 
clear  per  lOOlbs.  (£7  6s.  8d.). 

No  trader  was  allowed  to  pay  more  than  100 
bols  per  quintal,  nor  to  charge  more  for  his  goods 
than  they  would  fetch  at  the  biggest  and  most 
important  stores  in  La  Paz.  The  year  before  last 
a  trader  from  La  Paz  had  come  down  to  the  river 
with  twenty  little  mules  loaded  up  with  goods  to 
exchange  for  rubber,  and  paid  the  Indians  in  goods 
and  money  at  the  rate  of  105  bols  instead  of  100. 
He  thought  himself  very  smart,  but  it  soon  got  to 
the  ears  of  Villarde,  who  told  the  Cacique.  It 
was  decided  when  this  man,  Hernandez,  returned, 
to  confiscate  the  whole  of  his  stock  and  all  his 
mules,  and  to  order  him  never  to  return  to  the 
Republic  of  Challana  again.  Last  year  Hernandez 
turned  up  with  thirty-five  mules  and  goods;  the 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      119 

Cacique's  orders  were  carried  out,  and  all  his  mules 
and  goods  were  taken  to  Paroma.  Cortez  said  the 
reason  this  order  was  made  was  that  if  the  natives 
were  given  permission  by  the  Chief  to  make  their 
own  prices  they  would  get  out  of  hand.  There 
were  watchmen  always  guarding  the  river  at  every 
available  ford,  and  it  was  quite  impossible  to  cross 
except  in  balsas,  which  were  never  left  on  the 
Tipuani  side.  Cortez  told  me  that  you  could  travel 
by  balsa  down  the  river  without  any  difficulty  to 
Port  San  Antonio,  that  this  river  joined  another 
big  river,  probably  the  Gy  Parana,  which  in  turn 
joined  the  Madero  and  then  the  Amazon;  the 
River  Beni  flows  into  the  Mamore,  then  into  the 
Amazon.  My  opinion  is  that  the  Tipuani  and 
Challana  have  their  source  from  the  stream  just 
above  Tiquiripaga,  but  of  course  I  am  not  sure,  as 
I  have  never  myself  tried  to  trace  the  source  of 
any  of  these  large  tropical  rivers. 

The  scenery  about  here  was  very  grand.  The 
river  ran  between  two  high  cliffs  of  red  sandstone 
and  red  clayish  soil.  Large  trees  came  right 
down  to  the  water's  edge  in  some  places,  and  in 
other  places  the  banks  were  perpendicular  preci- 
pices of  deep  red  coloured  soil  and  rock  without 
any  trees.  All  round  was  dense  forest  land,  ex- 
cept at  the  Anhuaqui  Settlement,  where  there  was 


120        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

a  wide  stretch  of  prairie  reaching  to  the  foot  of  a 
very  steep  and  densely  wooded  high  hill  with  a  red 
path  leading  up  to  the  top.  This  hill  was  some 
nine  miles  from  here,  and  Cortez  pointed  out  this 
particular  path  to  me  as  our  way  to  Paroma.  It 
did  not  look  at  all  pleasant  to  have  to  walk  up 
there,  but  it  had  got  to  be  done  the  next  week. 

There  were  many  beautiful  birds  in  these  parts, 
mostly  gorgeously  coloured  macaws,  parrots,  snake 
birds,  toucans,  bell  birds  and  tropials,  and  plenty 
of  good  game  birds  as  well,  especially  wild  turkey, 
poujil,  martinette  and  long-billed  snipe.  The 
lovely  cattleya  superba  grew  in  clumps  on  the 
trunks  or  branches  of  trees,  wherever  the  ground 
was  of  a  rocky  nature,  and  parasites  and  smaller 
orchids  grew  everywhere.  Butterflies  of  brilliant 
colours  abounded,  but  there  was  also  the  loathsome 
berni  fly,  that  lays  its  eggs  and  breeds  maggots  in 
animals  and  human  beings.  If  it  is  not  treated  at 
once,  this  fly  works  nearly  into  the  bone ;  my  mule 
was  troubled  with  it,  but,  fortunately,  I  noticed  it 
in  time. 

One  night  I  asked  Cortez  what  wild  animals 
there  were  about,  and  he  told  me,  wild  cattle,  bear, 
many  kinds  of  monkeys,  pumas,  panthers,  tiger 
cats,  jaguars  and  tigers.  The  two  last  are  very 
plentiful  and  very  troublesoipe  and  dangerous,  a,pd 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      121 

pits  are  dug  for  them  everywhere.  Besides  these, 
there  are  tapirs,  antas,  wild  pigs  and  many  sorts 
of  deer.  I  myself  got  three  sorts  of  deer  while  in 
Challana,  swamp  deer,  pampas  deer,  which  are 
something  like  fallow  deer  and  the  little  peti  buck. 
One  day  in  England  I  was  talking  with  Bostock 
of  menagerie  fame,  and  he  asked  me  whether  I 
had  ever  come  across  what  they  call  a  tiger,  when 
I  was  in  the  forests  of  Bolivia.  I  told  him  I  had, 
and  had  got  three  skins  of  these  beasts,  but  I 
thought  they  ought  rather  to  be  called  a  large 
specimen  of  jaguar.  He  said  I  was  wrong  and  the 
natives  were  right :  it  was  quite  a  different  animal 
from  a  jaguar,  and  up  to  now  no  museum  or 
zoological  garden  had  a  specimen ;  it  would  be  very 
interesting  and  quite  easy  to  secure  a  live  one. 

The  weather  was  beautiful  while  we  were  here, 
but  on  the  day  we  had  fixed  for  leaving  for  the 
Challana  headquarters  at  Paroma  the  rain  fell  in  a 
tropical  downpour  for  six  hours.  It  cleared  up  in 
the  afternoon,  but  the  path  was  slippery,  and  the 
hill  very  step  on  the  other  side.  At  the  bottom 
there  was  another  settlement  consisting  of  one 
fair-sized  building  and  six  or  eight  smaller  ones; 
the  proprietor  had  gone  to  Paroma  by  Villarde's 
orders,  to  attend  the  conference  which  was  going 
to  receive  me.     We  camped  here  that  day;  th^ 


122        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

scenery  was  very  fine,  with  large  tracks  of  pasture 
land,  abundance  of  grass,  a  few  head  of  cattle  in 
good  condition  grazing,  several  small  streams  of 
clear  water  and  one  small  river  called  the  Mula 
Muerta,  which  Cortez  told  me  was  a  good  river  for 
gold  washing,  and  had  produced  several  good  nug- 
gets. At  this  place  I  saw  the  coca  bush  growing, 
for  the  first  time.  The  leaf  is  a  small  green  one 
and  contains  five  per  cent  of  cocaine ;  the  habit  of 
chewing  it  grows  on  the  natives  until  eventually 
they  find  they  cannot  do  without  it.  They  claim 
to  be  able  to  travel  through  the  dense  forest  or 
over  the  high  passes  all  day  long  for  weeks  at  a 
time  as  long  as  they  have  coca  leaves  in  their 
pouches  to  give  them  endurance.  Personally,  on 
the  many  long  journeys  I  have  undertaken  while 
prospecting  and  exploring  in  this  fascinating 
coimtry  during  five  years,  I  never  yet  took  to  the 
habit.  The  natives  also  claim  that  the  cinchona 
bark  in  Challona  gives  five  per  cent  of  quinine, 
and  they  are  often  seen  trotting  along  with  big 
loads  of  50  and  60lbs.  weight  and  even  more,  a 
bottle  of  water  with  two  or  three  bits  of  cinchona 
bark  in  it,  and  a  buckskin  pouch  filled  with  coca 
leaves. 

The  men  here  dress  in  shorts  of  drill  or  cotton, 
3,nd  over  these  they   wear  a   shirt  of  the  same 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      128 

material.  They  also  carry  a  poncho,  or  vicuna 
rug,  with  a  slit  in  it  for  the  head  to  go  through, 
and  a  short  jacket  of  drill  on  the  top  of  their  loads. 
The  loads  are  not  made  to  weigh  up  on  the 
shoulders  or  the  forehead,  but  are  tied  across  the 
chest,  leaving  the  shoulders  free.  Frequently, 
these  carriers  have  such  a  heavy  load  that  a  friend 
has  to  help  them  on  their  feet  to  get  started. 

At  4  p.m.  on  the  third  day  after  leaving 
Anhuaqui  we  reached  the  famous  Indian  village 
of  Paroma.  It  is  situated  on  the  top  of  a  green 
hill,  with  a  river  running  through  it,  and  houses 
and  huts  scattered  everywhere  about  and  the  large 
trees  that  grew  singly  or  in  clumps  of  eight  or  ten 
or  more  made  the  spot  very  beautiful.  The  view 
was  splendid,  and  you  could  see  for  a  long  distance 
for  miles  around.  The  first  thing  to  catch  the  eye 
was  a  long  high  shed,  built  of  poles  and  roofed 
with  big  palm  branches ;  this  was  the  Court  House, 
and  not  far  off  stood  a  nice  little  church.  I  stopped 
and  went  inside  and  found  fresh  flowers  in  all  the 
vases  and  empty  bottles,  and  the  whole  building 
swept  clean  and  kept  in  perfect  order,  though 
there  was  no  priest  and  had  been  none  for  a  long 
while. 

I  was  taken  to  Villarde's  house,  not  far  from 
the  Court  House  and  church,  which  stood  high  up 


124        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

on  the  banks  of  the  river  amongst  enormous 
boulders  and  deep  pools  that  reminded  me  of 
bonnie  Scotland.  That  evening  Villarde  and  I 
had  a  long  talk.  He  told  me  that  since  he  had 
received  his  sister's  letter  about  me  and  had  sent 
word  to  her  that  the  Cacique  and  his  people  would 
receive  me  at  their  capital  village  Paroma,  some 
Challana  men  had  returned  from  La  Paz  with  the 
story  that  it  was  not  to  facilitate  the  trading  of 
rubber  for  the  good  of  their  country  and  its  in- 
habitants that  I  had  undertaken  this  trip,  but  quite 
the  contrary  was  the  case.  They  said  that  I  had 
come  as  a  spy  from  the  Bolivian  Government,  to 
find  out  what  sort  of  paths  they  were  between  the 
River  Challana  and  Paroma,  the  depth  of  the 
river,  the  number  of  Indians  as  near  as  could  be 
judged  from  observation  and  information,  how 
they  were  armed,  and  if  there  were  many  rifles 
and  a  good  supply  of  cartridges,  and  that  when  I 
had  returned  to  La  Paz  with  all  the  details  they 
required  I  was  to  be  despatched  again  with  Cap- 
tain Cusiquanqui  with  mules,  mountain  artillery, 
and  200  men.  This,  he  said,  was  the  story  that 
the  Indians  were  being  told  by  their  countrymen 
just  back  from  La  Paz.  I  told  him  of  the  message 
that  was  delivered  to  me  on  my  way  to  the 
Tipuani,  and  showed  him  the  note  of  warning, 


FROM  TIPUANI  IT)  PAROMA      125 

which  he  said  was  sent  to  try  and  get  me  to  turn 
back ;  but  when  they  heard  through  Cortez  that  I 
had  got  to  the  River  Tipuani  the  Indians  under 
their  Cacique  had  been  consulted,  and  had  told 
him  to  let  me  cross  over,  into  their  territory. 
Villarde  said  that  a  meeting  of  the  three  hundred 
head  men  had  been  called  by  the  old  Cacique 
Mamani ;  the  first  sitting  was  to  take  place  next 
morning  at  8  a.m.,  and  he  would  have  to  put  to 
me  all  the  questions  the  old  Chief  told  him  to  ask 
me,  and  interpret  my  reply  to  him.  He  told  me 
I  would  have  to  prove  to  their  entire  satisfaction 
that  the  story  circulated  about  me  by  the  Indians 
recently  back  from  La  Paz  was  untrue.  He  as- 
sured me  that  Villavicencia,  Portugol,  the  two 
Fernandez  and  himself  knew  quite  well  I  was  not 
a  spy  for  the  Government,  but  he  said  it  would  be 
difficult  to  convince  the  Indians,  many  of  whom 
were  ready  to  condemn  me  without  a  hearing; 
but  in  the  last  resort  they  were  absolutely  under 
the  control  of  the  Cacique  Mamani  and  his  head 
men,  and  he  had  ordered  this  meeting. 

After  dinner  we  discussed  the  situation  till 
nearly  midnight,  and  both  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  this  malicious  story  had  been  circulated  by 
some  of  the  traders  who  periodically  came  down  to 
the  river  since  they  knew  that,  as  soon  as  the 


126        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Government  and  the  Challana  people  had  settled 
their  difficulties,  they  would  not  be  able  to  buy 
rubber  for  100  bolivians,  and  sell  it  in  La  Paz  for 
228  bolivians ;  the  Company  that  took  over  the  con- 
cession from  the  Government  would  soon  stop  that. 

Villarde,  of  course,  knew  all  about  the  country, 
and  he  told  me  he  had  sold  a  lot  of  rubber  and  gold 
in  the  sixteen  years  that  he  had  been  here,  and 
showed  me  a  shed  near  his  house  that  was  full  of 
rubber.  It  appeared  that  every  time  he  wanted 
to  get  away,  the  Indians  themselves  stopped  him ; 
they  would  let  him  go  a  certain  distance,  but  then 
he  had  to  turn  back.  Besides,  he  could  not  go  to 
La  Paz  by  the  Tongo,  as  the  Government  would 
catch  him,  and  at  that  time  there  was  a  reward  of 
£2,000  for  his  capture.  The  way  for  him  to  go 
if  the  Indians  would  let  him,  was  down  the  Chal- 
lana to  the  Gy  Parana  and  out  at  Para.  He  told 
me  he  had  made  over  £40,000. 

In  the  morning  I  had  a  pleasant  bathe  in  a 
lovely  cool  clear  pool  in  the  river  just  below  Vil- 
larde's  house,  and  after  a  good  breakfast  we  went 
off  at  8.30  to  the  Court  House,  escorted  by  some 
of  the  head  men. 

The  Court  House  was  a  very  long  shed,  with 
logs  of  whole  trees  placed  all  round  for  seats,  and 
a  raised  platform  of  logs  at  one  end,  where  the 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      127 

old  Cacique  Mamani  sat.  Villarde  sat  on  one  side 
of  him,  and  another  man,  named  Portugol,  on  the 
other;  beside  these  were  Villarde 's  other  lieuten- 
ants, the  two  Fernandez,  two  more  whose  names 
I  have  forgotten,  and  an  old  man  called  Jones,  who 
told  me  he  had  been  in  Challana  for  forty-two 
years  and  had  quite  forgotten  his  own  language; 
he  never  said  why  he  had  come  to  this  out-of-the- 
way  place,  nor  why  he  had  remained  so  long,  and 
of  course  I  never  asked  him. 

There  were  three  hundred  Indians  congregated 
in  the  building ;  thirty  armed  head  men  kept 
walking  round  between  the  logs  and  in  the  centre 
of  the  house  to  keep  order,  and  there  were  others 
keeping  order  outside. 

The  sitting  lasted  until  five  in  the  afternoon, 
when  they  all  dispersed  until  eight  the  next 
morning.  Many  questions  were  put  and  answered, 
and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  talking  in  their 
language ;  Villarde  interpreting  to  me  in  Spanish, 
and  I  answering  him  in  the  same  language. 

When  I  got  back,  I  had  another  bathe  in  the 
deep  pool  before  dinner.  Next  day  the  conversa- 
tion was  renewed  till  finally  Portugol  said  to  Vil- 
larde in  Spanish,  '*  What  can  we  do,  Don 
Lorenzo?  We  shan't  be  able  to  contain  them 
much  longer,"     Villarde  then  asked  me  to  get 


128        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

up  and  speak  to  them  myself.  I  told  him  I  could 
only  speak  Spanish,  but  he  said  that  would  do 
very  well,  as  he  was  there  to  translate  what  I  said, 
and  if  he  did  not  translate  correctly  there  were 
forty  Indians  there  who  understood  Spanish  and 
would  correct  him.  So  I  got  up  and  talked  to 
them  for  two  hours,  telling  them  I  was  their 
friend  and  had  come  there  to  do  what  I  could  for 
them  with  the  Government  for  their  own  benefit. 
I  asked  them  what  good  it  would  do  them  to  kill 
me,  and  told  them  that  although  I  had  heard  that 
they  intended  to  keep  me  there  as  a  prisoner  I 
came  on  alone,  because  wherever  I  had  been  I 
had  heard  the  Challana  Indians  always  spoken  of 
as  Christians,  and  I  was  quite  sure  they  would  do 
me  no  harm.  I  said  I  had  come  quite  unarmed 
to  see  their  country  and  visit  their  Chief,  having 
left  my  revolver,  rifle  and  cartridges  with  Cortez 
at  Anhuaqui,  and  assured  them  that  there  was  no 
truth  whatever  in  the  story  of  my  being  a  spy; 
the  Government  of  La  Paz  never  sent  me  or  any- 
body else  there  for  that  purpose.  The  Cacique 
then  got  up  and  embraced  me,  saying  I  was  to 
consider  myself  their  friend,  and  could  come  and 
go  when  I  pleased.  He  told  me  I  was  a  brave 
man,  because  I  had  come  there  alone,  in  spite  of 
what  I  had  heard  about  them ;  that  they  respected 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      129 

me  and  welcomed  me,  and  were  ready  to  listen  to 
the  Company's  proposals,  and  to  tell  them,  through 
me,  what  they  thought  of  them. 

I  then  explained  the  Challana  Company  and 
Government's  suggestions,  which  were  that  five 
hundred  of  the  inhabitants  should  pick  rubber  for 
the  new  Company  at  the  rate  of  100  bolivians  a 
quintal  placed  on  the  Tipuani  side  of  the  River 
Challana,  or  on  the  other  side  of  the  River  Tongo, 
the  payment  to  be  made  half  in  cash  and  half  in 
goods.  Further,  I  was  to  see  General  Pardo,  the 
President  of  Bolivia,  with  a  view  to  his  granting 
the  settlers  in  Challana  their  holdings  free.  The 
Cacique  told  me  through  Villarde  this  proposal 
was  approved  by  him  and  the  settlers  in  Challana, 
and  he  said  that,  out  of  the  nine  hundred  inhabit- 
ants of  his  country,  certainly  five  hundred  at  least 
would  pick  rubber. 

Villarde  told  me  later  on  that  at  one  time  he 
and  the  other  white  men  feared  that  the  situation 
would  become  really  serious.  '*  I  thought, *'  he 
said,  *^  we  might  be  able  to  save  your  life,  but  we 
were  afraid  they  would  not  let  you  leave  the 
country  again.  However,  the  yarn  you  told  them 
about  your  hearing  of  the  Challanas  in  London 
and  New  York  as  brave  Christians  and  not  savages, 
and  all  that,  saved  you ;  by  keeping  your  head,  you 


130        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

saved  it,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  way  you 
spoke  and  the  impression  you  made  they  would 
undoubtedly  have  kept  you  their  prisoner." 

Once  they  had  decided  in  my  favour,  the  Indians 
treated  me  very  well,  and  old  Mamani  presented 
me  with  a  valuable  silver  necklace,  the  buckle  of 
which  showed  it  to  be  the  work  of  the  Incas. 

I  subsequently  took  it  home  to  give  to  my 
mother  with  a  few  other  things. 

Challana  is  a  beautiful  country,  full  of  dense 
forests,  wide  savannahs  (grass  land)  covered  with 
long  nutritious  grass,  undulating  hills  and  valleys, 
and  many  rivers  and  streams.  Besides  the  yams, 
ochres,  ucas  and  other  vegetables  and  fruit  in- 
digenous to  the  tropics,  rice  is  cultivated,  as  well 
as  more  coffee,  sugar  and  coca  than  is  consumed 
in  the  country.  The  rice  grown  here  is  of  the  very 
best  quality,  and  the  cojffee  as  good  as  yungas. 
Coca  yields  five  per  cent  of  cocaine,  and  cinchona 
bark  five  per  cent  of  quinine.  Maize  is  grown  by 
every  one.  The  only  things  required  from  the 
outside  world  are  hardware,  drills,  cottons  and 
prints,  salt,  soap  and  flour.  The  Indians  make 
their  own  rum,  grow  their  own  cattle  for  beef,  and 
keep  pigs,  fowls  and  turkeys ;  several  have  cows 
and  mules.  Before  I  left,  I  got  orders  from  them 
through  Villarde  and  other  head  men  to  bring  them 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      131 

back  goods  to  the  value  of  £5,000,  to  be  paid  for 
in  rubber,  at  100  bols  the  quintal,  and,  besides 
transporting  the  rubber  to  the  Challana  River  free, 
they  even  offered  to  carry  it  on  from  there  to  Lake 
Titicaca  or  La  Paz,  for  17  bols  a  quintal.  This 
same  rubber  easily  fetched  in  La  Paz  228  bols  per 
quintal.  Many  of  them  told  me  that  when  I  came 
back  they  would  show  me  good  places  for  gold 
washing,  and  would  work  for  the  Company  if  I 
was  manager. 

Not  only  is  this  country  surprisingly  rich  and 
beautiful,  but  there  is  also  plenty  of  shooting  and 
fishing.  The  Indians  are  friendly,  and  travelling 
is  not  bad  after  reaching  the  top  of  the  first  steep 
hill.  The  climate  on  the  hill-top  at  Paroma  is  not 
a  bad  one  for  the  tropics,  and  Europeans  with 
energy  and  capital  could  make  good  money  and 
do  well  there ;  but  it  is  not  at  all  suitable  for  the 
manual  labourer,  as  the  climate  will  prevent  him 
from  doing  as  much  work  in  a  day  as  an  ordinary 
Indian  can ;  besides  which,  plenty  of  Indians  will 
work  for  2/-  a  day  and  find  themselves,  or  1/- 
and  be  found.  This  applies  really  to  all  the 
tropical  parts  of  South  America.  Many  a  time  I 
have  been  asked  by  English,  French,  German  and 
other  Europeans  what  sort  of  pay  is  obtained  in 
these  rubber  and  gold  districts,  and  I  have  always 


132        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

advised  them  not  to  expect  more  pay  than  the 
Indian  worker,  unless  they  are  mechanics  or  prac- 
tised electrical  drillers,  in  which  case  they  would 
have  no  difficulty  in  getting  jobs  and  pay  accord- 
ingly. The  reason  one  meets  so  many  English 
and  other  Europeans  down  on  their  luck  in  the 
tropics  of  South  America,  walking  from  one  dis- 
trict to  another  or  one  republic  to  another  with 
half  their  clothes  worn  out,  and  little  or  no  money 
in  their  pockets,  is  that  they  will  not  realize  that 
the  sugar  planter,  coffee  grower,  farmer  or  owner 
of  rubber  or  mining  concessions  will  not  pay  more 
than  Indian  labour  will  cost  them. 

The  day  I  left  Paroma  the  Cacique  Mamani 
came  to  Villarde's  to  say  good-bye,  and  told  off 
Cortez  and  three  men  all  armed  with  rifles  to  take 
me  back  to  Challana,  calling  them  up  in  front  of 
Villarde's  house,  and  making  them  the  follovring 
speech  :  "  Thomas  Cortez,  I  have  decided  to  send 
you  with  the  three  armed  men  to  escort  our  friend 
to  the  Tipuani  side  of  the  River  Challana.  You 
are  to  be  careful  to  look  after  his  welfare  in  every 
way  :  it  matters  not  whether  he  chooses  to  take 
one  week,  one  month  or  one  year  on  his  way  to 
the  Challana,  you  will  be  held  responsible  by  me 
if  he  is  hurt  in  any  way." 

Before  I  left  Paroma,  Villarde  gave  me  a  docu- 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      188 

ment,  stating  that  I  had  visited  the  Indians  at  their 
headquarters,  and  conferred  with  them  :  he  signed 
it  himself  and  it  was  witnessed  by  all  the  other 
Chiefs  and  head  men.  Near  the  River  Challana  I 
helped  to  get  one  fine  specimen  of  a  man-eating 
jaguar  or  tiger  while  he  was  chasing  wild  pig ;  the 
skin  measured  8ft.  llins.  in  the  green,  which  I 
afterwards  gave  to  the  friend  I  trained  horses  for, 
M.  M.  Penny.  The  Indians  gave  me  two  other 
skins,  and  some  snake  skins,  feathered  caps,  bows 
and  arrows  from  the  Beni  and  San  Antonio. 

Next  day  I  started  back  with  my  escort,  taking 
with  me  a  collection  of  butterflies,  and  a  little 
black  monkey  I  had  got  at  Paroma.  We  did  the 
sixty  miles  to  Cortez's  place  at  Anhuaqui  in  two 
days.  I  gave  them  some  quinine  and  a  few  other 
things,  and  we  parted  the  best  of  friends.  Before 
leaving,  Cortez  said  he  had  been  asked  to  tell  me 
that  when  I  returneji  the  settlers  on  the  river 
were  going  to  present  me  with  a  big  nine  pole 
balsa,  so  that  I  could  go  back  down  the  Challana 
to  the  big  river,  meaning,  I  expect,  the  Gy 
Parana.  By  the  order  of  the  Cacique,  Cortez  told 
off  an  Indian  boy  to  go  with  me  as  far  as  Tipuani, 
and  look  to  the  mule  and  fag  for  me.  Next  day 
they  put  me  across  the  Challana,  and  I  stayed  for 
the  night  with  Bartelot,  who  was  down  with 
another  bout  of  fever. 


134        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

On  the  third  day  we  got  to  Tipuani ;  on  the  way 
back  I  saw  some  more  of  the  pretty  yellow-headed 
birds,  with  green  body,  purple  wings  and  scarlet 
breasts.  I  was  sorry  I  had  not  my  gun,  or  a  small 
bore  pea  rifle  with  me,  so  that  I  could  get  a  couple 
of  specimens,  for  this  was  the  only  place  in  which 
they  were  to  be  found.  Before  the  boy  returned 
next  day,  I  made  him  a  present  of  some  tins  of 
sardines  and  packets  of  matches,  and  a  cutlass  to 
take  back  with  him  for  himself  and  friends ;  money 
would  not  have  been  much  use  to  him,  and  I  did 
not  want  to  risk  his  running  amok,  as  Villarde 
had  told  me  that  drinking  to  excess  was  not  per- 
mitted in  Challana.  In  fact,  while  I  was  there  I 
never  saw  a  drunken  man,  nor  yet  an  immoral 
woman. 

Perez  still  had  the  fever,  Mac  was  just  getting 
over  his  attack,  and  my  man  Miguel  was  still  so 
weak  that  I  had  to  wait  for  another  two  weeks 
before  he  could  travel.  So  I  amused  myself  by 
bathing  in  the  Tipuani,  shooting  a  few  birds  and 
catching  a  lot  of  butterflies.  One  day  when  Mac 
and  I  were  shooting  birds  for  the  pot,  we  saw  a 
big  flock  of  dark  brown  pigeons,  which  Mac  called 
"the  lost  tribe."  Sometimes  Mac  and  I  panned 
out  a  little  gold,  and  we  got  nearly  four  ounces 
from  pay  dirt  dug  out  by  Rayo  and  Charlie  in  three 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      185 

days'  digging.  A  few  days  after  I  got  back  to 
Tipiiani,  two  half-castes  and  a  boy  came  to  me, 
and  suggested  that  as  they  were  going  to  Sorata 
or  La  Paz  with  rubber  for  the  house  of  Perez  and 
Co.  it  would  be  safer  if  they  could  travel  with  me, 
as  I  was  armed  and  had  two  men  with  me;  by 
travelling  all  together  we  were  less  likely  to  be 
marauded  by  cut-throats  or  brigands  on  the  way. 
I  agreed,  but  said  that  I  could  not  start  for  another 
week,  owing  to  Miguel's  fever.  Rather  than  travel 
alone,  they  waited  for  me,  but  unfortunately,  just 
as  Miguel  began  to  get  fit,  Richardo,  who  was 
with  the  three  small  cargo  mules,  said  he  had  fever, 
which  meant  a  few  more  days'  delay.  The  half- 
castes  said  they  could  not  wait  any  longer,  for  fear 
Perez  might  find  fault,  so  they  started  off  with 
Perez'  old  grey  mare  and  five  small  mules  and 
ponies,  each  carrying  a  quintal  of  rubber.  Three 
days  after  they  left,  I  said  good-bye  to  Mac  and 
began  the  return  journey  to  La  Paz.  As  the 
rainy  season  was  now  over,  walking  through  the 
forest  and  admiring  the  beautiful  tropical  plants 
and  ferns  was  very  pleasant.  On  the  second  day 
after  leaving  Gritado,  the  path  on  the  edge  of  the 
forest  gave  way,  and  one  of  my  small  cargo  mules 
fell  and  rolled  down  through  tree-ferns  and  trees, 
right  into  a  stream  of  water  below.      Unluckily 


136        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

for  me,  he  was  the  mule  carrying  all  my  photo- 
graphic plates,  sixty  fine  views,  as  wxll  as  ten 
biscuit  tins  full  of  butterflies.  The  mule  was  not 
hurt,  but  many  of  the  butterflies  were  spoilt,  and 
when  I  took  the  plates  to  be  developed  at  Lima 
later  on  only  three  came  out  a  success,  the  rest 
were  hopelessly  blurred.  This  is  why  there  are 
so  few  photographs  in  this  book. 

Some  days  later  we  reached  the  Quillapatuni 
Pass,  which  I  found  much  easier  walking  up  than 
down.  We  had,  of  course,  to  unload  the  mules, 
and  pass  everything  over  the  cable  at  the  River 
Toro,  and  then  let  the  mules  climb  the  pass  with 
half  loads,  which  took  us  two  days.  We  stopped 
at  the  same  places  as  on  the  way  in.  At  the  top 
of  the  pass,  Miguel  had  another  attack  of  fever, 
and  I  was  delayed  three  days,  during  which  I  shot 
two  poujil.  The  shelters  there  had  evidently  been 
occupied  within  the  last  day  or  so,  probably  by 
the  two  men  and  boy  who  had  wanted  to  travel 
with  me. 

A  few  days  later,  when  we  had  just  reached  the 
foot  of  the  Illyapo  Range,  we  were  astonished  to 
see  Perez'  old  white  mare  walking  quietly 
towards  the  Tipuani,  and  behind  her  in  single  file 
the  two  ponies  and  the  mules.  Nobody  was  with 
them,  and  there  was  no  cargo  or  pack  saddles  on 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      187 

their  backs.  Three  hours  afterwards,  as  we  were 
ascending  the  high  mountain  on  the  way  to 
Tiquiripaga,  we  saw  frozen  blood  on  the  path,  and 
about  half  a  mile  further  on  just  this  side  of 
Tiquiripaga  we  met  four  mounted  infantry  men 
on  mules,  who  told  us  that  the  little  boy  had  met 
them  the  day  before  and  said  that  his  two  com- 
panions had  been  murdered  by  three  bad  Indians 
who  persisted  in  accompanying  them  for  two  days. 
They  had  killed  the  two  men  and  taken  the  animals 
that  were  carrying  the  rubber.  The  boy  had  gone 
on  to  Sorata  and  given  the  alarm,  and  the  criminals 
were  being  pursued.  Eventually  two  of  them 
were  found  with  all  the  rubber  at  a  small  Indian 
settlement  off  the  road  near  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain ;  they  were  recognized  by  the  boy  and  brought 
to  Sorata,  where  they  were  imprisoned  and  con- 
victed.    The  third  man  escaped. 

I  stayed  at  Manuel's  place  that  night,  and  two 
days  later  reached  Sorata.  To  my  surprise,  Gun- 
ther  told  me  that  word  had  been  brought  that  I 
had  been  killed  by  the  Challana  Indians,  and  that 
the  Government  was  about  to  send  Captain 
Cusicanque  with  some  soldiers  from  La  Paz  to 
see  what  had  happened.  Word  was  at  once  sent 
to  General  Pardo  that  I  had  arrived  and  was  on 
my  way  back  to  La  Paz  next  day;  however,  I 


188        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

could  not  continue  for  two  days,  as  Miguel  and 
Ricardo  required  a  rest.  Before  leaving  I  called 
on  Mrs.  Villa vicencia  to  give  her  letters  from  her 
brother  and  husband,  and  thanked  her  for  writing 
them.  I  told  her  how  well  I  had  been  received 
by  the  Cacique  and  the  Challanas.  I  picked  up 
my  good  black  mule  which  I  had  left  here,  and 
rode  the  rest  of  the  way  to  La  Paz  by  easy  stages, 
so  as  to  keep  with  my  men  and  cargo,  getting 
there  on  the  third  day  after  leaving  Sorata.  I  was 
met  by  Captain  Cusicanque,  and  taken  down  at 
once  to  see  General  Pardo,  the  President,  at  his 
private  house.  He  was  very  pleasant,  and  con- 
gratulated me,  saying  he  was  very  glad  I  had 
succeeded  in  getting  to  Paroma  and  back.  He 
told  me  I  had  managed  to  do  what  nobody  else 
had  been  able  to  do,  and  said  he  would  certainly 
give  all  the  Challana  Indians  their  farms  and  hold- 
ings free,  but  would  not  recognize  the  others, 
many  of  whom  had  escaped  from  justice.  He 
added  that  if  one  of  his  own  countrymen  had  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  what  I  had  done,  they  would  have 
paid  him  well,  and  that  I  had  fully  earned  my 
commission,  and  he  hoped  I  would  get  it.  When 
I  had  thanked  him  for  his  kind  remarks,  and  shown 
him  the  paper  given  me  by  Villarde,  I  weighed 
myself  at  the  President's  house,  and  found  that 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      189 

after  walking  857  miles  by  the  register  of  the 
speedometer,  besides  many  more  miles  when  I  did 
not  carry  it,  riding  210  miles  on  a  mule,  and 
leading  a  fairly  rough  life,  I  was  just  lOlbs.  less 
than  when  I  left  Peru,  which  goes  to  show  that  a 
trip  of  this  sort  hurts  nobody,  so  long  as  you  don't 
get  the  fever.  I  had  enjoyed  the  journey  there  and 
back  very  much,  although  I  was  not  in  too  happy 
a  frame  of  mind  before  the  meeting  of  the  Indians 
after  what  Villarde  had  told  me.  However,  after 
I  began  to  talk  with  them,  that  feeling  soon  wore 
off. 

Before  returning  to  Lima,  I  stayed  a  few  days 
at  La  Paz.  Miguel  was  still  having  attacks  of 
malaria,  so  I  sent  him  back  to  Chili,  via  Oruro  and 
Antofogasta.  I  gave  the  big  tiger  skin  to  Mariano 
Penny  at  Oruro  :  the  length  was  measured  green, 
not  pegged  out,  8ft.  llins.  After  crossing  Lake 
Titicaca,  I  took  the  Puno  Arequipa  train  and  got 
out  at  Jura  to  spend  a  week  at  the  baths  on  the 
way  down.  I  went  on  to  Arequipa  and  Mollendo, 
and  there  caught  the  steamer  to  Callao,  where  I 
arrived  on  August  4th,  1904,  just  about  a  year 
after  starting.  Mr.  Beauclerk,  the  British  Minis- 
ter, told  me  I  was  supposed  to  have  been  murdered, 
and  showed  me  Lima  and  Valparaiso  papers.     I 

was  pleased  to  see  how  kindly  they  spoke  about 

ti 


140        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

me,  and  I  shall  always  be  proud  of  those  notices, 
and  the  many  kind  letters  of  congratulation  from 
merchants,  bank  managers,  and  editors  of  news- 
papers in  Chili  and  Peru  which  I  received.  I 
showed  Villarde's  paper  to  Mr.  A.  B.  Leguia,  the 
Minister  of  Hacienda  Lima  Peru,  afterwards  one 
of  the  best  Presidents  Peru  ever  had,  who  paid  me 
his  share  of  the  expenses  agreed  to  in  the  arrange- 
ment I  had  made  with  reference  to  the  Challana 
concession,  and  wrote  to  the  New  Company,  ask- 
ing them  to  take  over  the  concession  on  the  terms 
originally  stipulated. 

I  then  went  home,  and  did  not  return  to  Lima 
until  March  of  the  next  year. 

When  I  got  there,  I  found  to  my  disgust  that 
the  Company  which  was  to  have  bought  over  the 
concession  from  the  Challana  Rubber  Company 
seemed  to  want  to  back  out  of  it  now.  I  was  asked 
if  I  would  take  their  representative  from  the 
States  to  the  rubber  district  of  Challana,  and  at 
once  said  I  certainly  would,  provided  we  took  in 
at  the  same  time  the  goods  ordered  by  the  natives 
to  exchange  for  rubber ;  otherwise  I  would  not  go. 
I  Was  not  going  to  go  back  on  my  word  to  Vil- 
larde,  the  Cacique,  and  the  settlers,  and  I  told 
them  the  rubber  was  there,  balled  up  and  ready 
for  immediate  transport,  and  if  they  did  not  see 


FROM  TIPUANI  TO  PAROMA      141 

their  way  to  taking  the  whole  £5,000  worth  or- 
dered until  they  had  seen  the  country  and  in- 
habitants and  formed  their  own  opinion  we  might 
take  £1,000  worth  of  things  for  a  start.  But 
nothing  came  of  it,  and  the  whole  deal  fell  through. 
Some  few  years  after  my  return,  a  Company  was 
registered  called  the  Tongo  River  Rubber  Com- 
pany. It  is  a  simple  matter  for  others  to  follow 
after  somebody  else  has  shown  the  way.  The 
pioneer  of  any  such  undertaking,  or  the  prospector 
for  minerals,  seldom  derives  much  benefit  for  the 
hard  times  he  nearly  always  has  to  go  through, 
and  the  reward  is  generally  reaped  by  others  who 
would  never  think  of  making  such  ventures  until 
the  ways  and  means  were  made  clear  and  easy. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  :    FIRST  ATTEMPT 

WHILE  I  was  stopping  for  a  week  at 
Jura  baths,  on  my  return  from 
Challana,  Morosini,  the  proprietor 
of  the  hotel,  came  up  to  me  one  day 
and  told  me  there  was  a  lady  staying  there  who 
wanted  to  have  a  talk  with  me — Dona  Corina  San 
Roman,  daughter  of  the  late  General  San  Roman, 
a  former  President  of  Peru.  Morosini  presented 
me,  and  after  a  few  minutes'  conversation  she 
showed  me  an  original  document  left  by  Father 
San  Roman  to  his  brother,  the  Prefect  of  Callao, 
and  handed  down  to  her  by  her  father,  which  gave 
particulars  of  a  large  treasure  that  had  been  hidden 
by  the  Jesuits.  She  told  me  that  as  I  had  been 
into  Challana,  and  got  back  safely,  I  would  be  just 
the  man  to  go  and  look  for  it,  if  I  cared  to  do  so, 
and  she  made  me  two  alternative  offers.  If  I  tried 
to  find  the  place  with  the  help  of  the  data  she  would 

give  me,  she  would  pay  me  £80  per  month  for  the 

142 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  143 

six  dry  months  of  the  next  year,  which  was  as  much 
as  I  was  getting  from  Mariano  Penny  for  training 
his  racehorses,  and  if  I  found  it  she  would  pay  all 
the  expenses  of  unearthing  it,  and  give  me  ten  per 
cent  of  the  full  value  found.  The  other  suggestion 
was  that  I  was  to  take  the  copy  of  the  document, 
and  go  myself,  paying  all  my  own  expenses,  and 
give  her  ten  per  cent  of  the  treasure  if  I  found  it. 
I  accepted  the  second  proposition  without  hesi- 
tation. 

The  document  gave  no  indications  as  to  how  to 
iSnd  the  place,  but  simply  described  the  kind  of 
place,  and  mentioned  that  it  was  near  the  banks  of 
the  River  Sacambaja.  It  ran  as  follows  :  "  If  you 
find  a  steep  hill  all  covered  with  dense  forest,  the 
top  of  which  is  flat,  with  long  grass  growing,  from 
where  you  can  see  the  River  Sacambaja  on  three 
sides,  you  will  discover  on  the  top  of  it,  in  the 
middle  of  the  long  grass,  a  large  stone  shaped  like 
an  egg,  so  big  that  it  took  500  Indians  to  place  it 
there.  If  you  dig  down  underneath  this  stone  for 
five  yards,  you  will  find  the  roof  of  a  large  cave, 
which  it  took  500  men  two  and  a  half  years  to 
hollow  out.  The  roof  is  seventy  yards  long,  and 
there  are  two  compartments  and  a  long  narrow 
passage  leading  from  the  room  on  the  east  side  to 
the  main  entrance  two  hundred  yards  away.     On 


144        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

reaching  the  door,  you  must  exercise  great  care  in 
opening.  The  door  is  a  large  iron  one,  and  inside 
to  the  right  near  the  wall  you  will  find  an  image 
made  of  pure  gold  three  feet  high,  the  eyes  of 
which  are  two  large  diamonds;  this  image  was 
placed  here  for  the  good  of  mankind.  If  you  pro- 
ceed along  the  passage,  you  will  find  in  the  first 
room  thirty-seven  large  heaps  of  gold,  and  many 
gold  and  silver  ornaments  and  precious  stones. 
On  entering  the  second  room,  you  will  find  in  the 
right-hand  corner  a  large  box,  clamped  with  three 
iron  bars;  inside  this  box  is  $90,000  in  silver 
money  and  thirty-seven  big  heaps  of  gold.  Dis- 
tributed in  the  hollows  on  either  side  of  the  tunnel 
and  the  two  rooms  are  altogether  a  hundred  and 
sixty-three  heaps  of  gold,  of  which  the  value  has 
been  estimated  at  $60,000,000.  Great  care  must 
be  taken  on  entering  these  rooms,  as  enough 
strong  poison  to  kill  a  regiment  has  been  laid 
about.  The  walls  of  the  two  rooms  have  been 
strengthened  by  large  blocks  of  granite ;  from  the 
roof  downwards  the  distance  is  five  yards  more. 
The  top  of  the  roof  is  portioned  off  into  three  dis- 
tinct esplanades,  and  the  whole  has  been  well 
covered  over  for  a  depth  of  five  yards  with  earth 
and  stones.  When  you  come  to  a  place  twenty 
feet  high,  with  a  wall  so  wide  that  two  men  can 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  145 

easily  ride  abreast,  cross  the  river,  and  you  will 
find  the  church,  monastery,  and  other  buildings." 
Corina  San  Roman  told  me  that  the  monastery 
spoken  of  in  this  document  was  built  by  the  Jesuits 
in  1635  and  abandoned  in  1735.  The  treasure, 
accumulated  from  eleven  years'  working  of  the 
i'amous  gold  mines  of  El  Carmen,  and  the  Tres 
Titilias,  and  from  the  gold  and  diamond  washings 
carried  on  near  Santa  Cruz  by  2,000  Indians  under 
Fathers  Gregorio  and  San  Roman  and  seven  other 
priests,  who  died,  was  all  hidden  under  the  hill 
indicated  in  this  document  with  the  exception  of 
£70,000  for  each  of  the  priests.  Out  of  the  500 
Indians  employed  in  burying  the  treasure  288  died 
of  an  epidemic  of  fever  in  the  last  three  months  of 
the  work. 

Corina  San  Roman  also  told  me  that  her  father 
used  to  send  £25  every  Christmas  to  an  old  Indian 
named  Jose  Maria  Ampuera,  who,  he  said,  knew 
where  the  hill  was.  He  used  to  send  Macedonia 
Zambrana,  one  of  his  own  men,  who  lived  near 
Cochabamba,  with  this  money  and  several  pounds 
of  tea,  sugar  and  other  things.  The  Indian  was 
paid  this  to  keep  the  secret,  to  visit  the  place  from 
time  to  time,  and  to  notify  him  if  anybody  started 
exploring  there.  He  used  to  say  he  had  a  good 
enough  income  himself,  and  did  not  care  to  risk 


146        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

getting  malarial  fever  in  looking  for  it.  He  kept 
the  paper  himself  and  gave  it  to  his  daughter 
shortly  before  he  died ;  she  put  it  inside  one  of  the 
books  in  the  library,  and  after  his  death  she  could 
not  find  it,  but  her  uncle,  the  brother  of  the 
General,  who  was  a  priest  and  lived  at  Cocha- 
bamba,  had  a  copy,  which  is  the  one  I  saw  !  Many 
expeditions  had  been  fitted  out  to  look  for  this 
treasure.  One  had  been  sent  by  Malgarejo,  the 
President  of  Bolivia,  another  was  fitted  out  at 
Valparaiso  in  1895,  but  both  were  unsuccessful. 
Dona  Corina  told  me  that  her  uncle  had  died  in 
1896,  that  Zambrana  had  not  been  heard  of  for  the 
last  eight  years,  and  that  if  the  Indian  was  still 
alive  he  must  be  over  100. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  find  Zambrana, 
so  in  March,  1905,  I  left  La  Paz  on  my  way  to 
Cochabamba  to  look  for  him.  I  went  first  to  Oruro 
by  the  Diligence  Mail,  which  does  the  journey  of 
180  miles  in  two  days,  starting  at  6  a.m.,  and 
changing  the  five  mules  and  galloping  horse  every 
nine  miles.  The  coach  stops  for  half  an  hour  at 
9  a.m.  for  breakfast,  and  for  lunch  at  1.30,  reach- 
ing the  rest-house  at  7.80  p.m.  for  dinner,  leaving 
again  next  morning  at  5  a.m.,  and  reaching  Oruro 
at  5  p.m.  After  La  Paz  Alto  they  go  full  gallop 
all  the  way ;  the  driver  has  a  long  whip,  and  a  box 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  147 

full  of  stones  to  throw  at  the  mules,  and  an  Indian 
boy,  who  sits  on  the  step  behind,  gets  off  every 
now  and  then  to  flog  them.  The  coach  carries  nine 
passengers,  eight  inside,  at  $25  each,  and  one  on 
the  box  seat  for  $35,  which  I  took.  Luggage  and 
mails  are  strapped  on  the  top ;  only  35lbs.  of 
luggage  was  allowed  to  each  passenger,  and  the 
heavy  gear  leaves  the  day  before  in  a  big  mule 
waggon,  and  is  charged  for  per  lOOlbs.  Riding  on 
the  box  seat  beside  the  driver,  and  driving  at  a  hand 
gallop  across  the  level  high  flats  12,500ft.  above  the 
sea,  through  the  pure  and  exhilarating  air,  under  a 
wonderful  blue  sky,  I  found  the  journey  most 
enjoyable. 

The  highest  place  registered  on  the  road  was 
13,200ft.    Oruro  is  12,800ft.  up. 

At  Oruro  I  found  that  Mariano  Penny,  the 
owner  of  the  rich  San  Jose  silver  mine,  was  away 
in  Chili,  and  J.  B.  Minchin,  who  owned  rich  tin 
mines,  was  also  away,  but  Dr.  Shrigley  kindly 
lent  me  his  place  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town, 
where  there  was  a  big  walled-in  grass  field.  There 
I  engaged  an  Indian  called  Jose,  with  his  wife  and 
boy,  the  man  to  look  after  my  animals,  the  boy  to 
fag  and  wife  to  cook,  with  another  Indian  to  help 
with  the  cargo,  and  bought  four  good  mules,  two 
donkeys  and  a  horse. 


148        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

After  a  stay  of  two  weeks,  I  started  for  Coeha- 
bamba,  riding  the  horse  on  the  first  day,  and  next 
day  a  good  Httle  white  mule.  The  journey  of  190 
miles  took  eight  days'  easy  travelling.  We  started 
each  morning  at  9  a.m.,  and  camped  every  after- 
noon at  3  p.m.,  renting  an  Indian  hut  for  the 
night.  Each  evening,  after  buying  fodder  for  the 
animals,  eggs  and  mutton,  and  whatever  else  was 
wanted,  I  generally  took  the  gun  for  an  hour  or 
two,  and  shot  some  doves  and  other  birds,  which 
we  ate  cold  for  lunch  next  day. 

The  first  day's  journey  was  over  the  high  flats,  a 
sandy  desert,  with  little  feed  for  the  animals. 
Indians  with  llamas,  each  carrying  a  small  load, 
passed  us  frequently  on  their  way  to  Oruro,  and 
now  and  then  we  met  long  strings  of  mules,  led  by 
their  bell  mare.  The  bell  mare  carries  nothing; 
her  job  is  to  lead  the  mules,  and  they  follow  her  in 
single  file,  stopping  only  when  the  bell  stops. 

The  rest  of  the  way  was  through  a  more  fertile 
district,  which  bred  sheep,  llamas,  cattle,  donkeys, 
mules,  and  even  a  few  horses.  I  saw  Indians 
ploughing  the  fields  with  the  same  wooden  ploughs 
as  were  used  hundreds  of  years  ago.  Occasionally 
we  passed  small  wooden  carts  drawn  by  oxen,  with 
heavy  wooden  wheels  made  of  one  piece. 

The  crops  in  these  parts  are  barley,  wheat,  pota- 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  149 

toes  and,  further  on  near  Cochabamba,  maize, 
ochres  and  yueas.  Fresh  mutton  can  be  bought, 
the  usual  price  being  about  4/-to5/-a  sheep ;  also 
home-made  bread,  fowls,  eggs,  and  guinea  pigs, 
ochres,  chuno,  potatoes,  onions,  barley  in  the 
straw,  green  barley  and  alfalfa.  The  native  drink 
of  chicha,  made  from  corn,  can  also  be  bought  quite 
cheap  every  few  miles. 

The  weather  was  fine  the  whole  time,  Warm  in 
the  day-time,  and  cool  at  nights,  and  the  journey 
was  a  much  more  enjoyable  one  than  going  down 
by  diligence.  There  were  several  rivers  to  be 
crossed  on  the  way ;  between  November  and  April, 
they  are  dijfficult  to  get  over,  and  people  don't 
travel  much  from  Oruro  to  Cochabamba  during 
those  months. 

Cochabamba  stands  8,200ft.  high,  with  a  cHmate 
which  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  world ;  it  is  never  too 
hot  in  the  day,  and  cool  at  night.  Rents  and  living 
are  very  cheap.  The  market  master  regulates  the 
prices  of  all  meats,  beef,  mutton  and  pork.  Vege- 
tables are  plentiful,  and  fruit  of  all  kinds  may  be 
purchased  on  the  market.  There  are  no  hotels  to 
speak  of,  and  no  street  cars  or  cabs  for  hire.  The 
streets  are  all  well  paved  with  stone  with  a  gutter 
down  the  centre.  All  the  houses  have  heavy  iron 
bars  to  the  windows,  and  big,  solid  bolts  to  the 


150        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

doors  as  well.  Murders  are  not  uncommon,  and 
the  criminal  is  seldom  caught,  which  is  due  not  so 
much  to  the  negligence  of  the  police  as  to  the  num- 
ber of  hiding-places  where  the  criminal  can  easily 
conceal  himself  for  a  time.  When  a  murderer  is 
caught  he  is  made  to  undergo  a  public  trial  in  the 
square  of  the  Court  House,  and  if  he  is  found  guilty 
he  is  taken  to  the  spot  where  the  crime  was  com- 
mitted and  shot  there.  I  saw  one  such  trial  in 
Cochabamba.  A  bad  Cholo  had  asked  and  re- 
ceived the  hospitality  of  a  man  and  his  wife  for  the 
night,  and  while  they  were  asleep  had  killed  them 
with  an  axe,  and  stolen  a  sum  of  money  he  knew 
was  in  the  house.  His  bloodstained  clothes  con- 
victed him,  and  he  was  shot.  I  was  told  by  a  man 
who  knew  that  this  was  the  first  occasion  for  a  long 
time  that  a  murderer  had  been  caught.  The 
cathedral,  which  is  built  of  stone,  faces  the  big 
square  and  garden ;  the  Hall  of  Justice,  military 
barracks,  and  police  station  are  on  the  opposite 
side.  Six  hundred  priests  live  in  the  town. 
Chiquitos,  where  the  Jesuits  found  a  lot  of  gold,  is 
twenty  days'  journey  by  mule,  and  the  famous 
Espirito  Santo  gold  mine  worked  by  them  is  ten 
days  by  mule.  There  is  bear  shooting  three  days 
away.  I  rented  a  nice  little  house  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  town  near  the  river,  with  large  garden  and 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  151 

open  air  concrete  bath.  Only  a  very  few  houses 
contain  proper  lavatory  accommodation ;  otherwise 
they  are  very  well  built  and  quite  comfortable.  I 
made  this  house  my  headquarters  for  three  years, 
while  prospecting  for  old  mines  and  looking  for  the 
Jesuit  treasure.  In  front  of  my  place  were  the 
Municipality  grown  alfalfa  fields  for  the  Govern- 
ment animals ;  they  were  guarded  day  and  night  by 
two  armed  watchmen,  to  prevent  them  being  cut 
by  thieves.  It  costs  little  to  keep  animals  here ; 
barley  and  alfalfa  can  be  bought  by  the  load,  one 
mule  cargo  for  about  4/-,  and  two  cargoes,  one 
barley  and  one  alfalfa,  served  for  my  horse  and  four 
mules  a  day. 

Opposite  Cochabamba,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river,  a  German  Company  had  a  large  brewery,  and 
made  very  good  beer ;  a  dozen  large  bottles  cost 
2/-,  and  the  bottles  cost  as  much  as  the  beer. 
Imported  Bass  beer  cost  2/-  for  one  big  bottle,  a 
bottle  of  good  whisky  10/-  or  12/-,  and  Three  Star 
brandy  16/-. 

After  a  considerable  amount  of  trouble,  I  located 
Zambrana,  who  lived  a  day's  ride  from  Cocha- 
bamba. He  had  not  seen  old  Jose  Maria  for  many 
years,  and  the  priest.  Father  San  Roman,  who  used 
to  pay  him,  had  died,  but  he  said  he  knew  Jose 
Maria  lived  near  a  place  called  Cuti,  which  was 


152        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

thirty-five  miles  from  Palca.  Zam,  as  I  always 
called  him,  had  never  been  to  either  of  these  places, 
but  knew  the  way  as  far  as  a  mountain  village  sixty 
miles  from  Palca.  He  agreed  to  join  my  ex- 
pedition as  campman  and  butcher,  get  water  and 
wood,  and  help  the  cook,  so  I  took  him  on ;  he  was 
to  find  his  own  mule. 

I  had  two  tents  made  here,  one  for  myself  16ft. 
by  12ft.  and  Oft.  high,  and  the  other  was  10ft.  by 
10ft.  and  9ft.  high ;  also  a  strong  folding-up  canvas 
catre  3jft.  broad  and  7ft.  long,  which,  with  a 
horse-hair  mattress,  made  a  most  comfortable  bed. 
I  also  got  together  provisions  for  four  months  : 
sugar,  rice,  biscuits,  jams,  tea,  cocoa,  coffee,  and 
some  tinned  meats,  salt,  ship's  biscuits  and  other 
things.  Zambrana  told  me  that  round  about  the 
department  of  Palca  both  sheep  and  flour  were 
plentiful  and  cheap.  The  Indian  wife  of  Manuel, 
the  mule  man,  made  splendid  bread,  and  at  the 
different  stopping  places  we  often  borrowed  the 
use  of  a  bake-oven,  and  stayed  a  couple  of  days  to 
make  bread.  It  is  well  worth  the  extra  trouble  to 
get  good,  wholesome  bread  made  with  flour  that 
retains  all  the  good  ingredients  of  the  wheat,  which 
is  always  possible  if  it  is  crushed  by  the  stone  mill 
process.  I  also  took  two  dozen  bottles  of  rum,  one 
dozen  of  the  best  for  myself,  and  a  dozen  of  a 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  153 

stronger,  but  inferior,  quality  for  the  men.  With 
the  exception  of  the  things  I  brought  out  with  me, 
such  as  Liebig's  Extract,  a  thing  I  never  travel 
without,  everything  was  bought  from  Barber  & 
Co.,  who  traded  goods  for  rubber  up  the  Beni,  by 
advancing  money  and  goods  to  traders  for  rubber 
to  be  delivered  in  two  years'  time.  Alfred  Barber 
was  the  manager  for  this  firm  in  Bolivia ;  in  London 
and  Hamburg  the  firm  was  Brandt  &  Co.  Of 
course  all  the  traders  who  dealt  with  the  firm  on 
the  two  years'  credit  system  had  to  show  sub- 
stantial guarantees  in  the  form  of  unmortgaged 
property,  otherwise  such  firms  would  soon  come  to 
grief.  Barber  himself  had  to  put  up  a  guarantee  of 
several  thousands  of  pounds  (a  legacy  left  him  by 
his  godmother)  to  be  made  managing  partner  in 
Bolivia.  - 

On  the  2nd  May,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
dry  season,  I  left  Cochabamba  with  Zambrana, 
Manuel,  his  wife  and  boy  ;  two  more  men,  Mariano 
and  Ricardo,  my  saddle  horse  and  white  riding 
mule,  four  cargo  mules  and  a  donkey.  Zambrana 
rode  his  own  mule.  The  first  day  we  got  to 
Anacoraira,  below  the  Turani  range  of  mountains, 
where  I  bought  a  sheep  and  camped  for  the  night. 
The  road  as  far  as  here  was  an  easy  one ;  the  sur- 
rounding country  was  flat,  with  little  grass  and  a 


\ 


154        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

few  trees,  and  the  scenery  was  very  uninteresting. 
The  next  day  we  climbed  a  long  steep  path  up  the 
mountain,  passing  a  good  many  Indians  and 
llamas,  also  several  Indian  women  tending  their 
sheep,  and  spinning  wool  at  the  same  time,  with  a 
sling  made  from  llama  wool.  From  time  to  time 
they  throw  a  stone  at  the  sheep  to  drive  them  on. 
Half-way  up  the  mountain  Ricardo  gave  out,  and 
I  had  to  leave  him  with  some  provisions  and  tell 
him  when  he  was  rested  he  had  better  return  to 
Cochabamba ;  I  was  afraid  he  would  not  be  able  to 
stand  going  up  the  heights.  We  crossed  the 
Turani  Pass  in  good  weather  at  15,000ft.  The 
height  of  Mt.  Turani  is  about  17,000ft.  We 
pitched  our  two  tents  on  the  other  side  at  12,000ft., 
near  some  Indians  and  llamas,  who  were  halting  for 
the  night  on  their  way  to  Cochabamba,  with 
cargoes  of  wheat.  There  was  plenty  of  grass  about 
and  several  pools  of  clear  water,  and  a  running 
stream.  It  froze  hard  all  night,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing the  pools  were  frozen  over  with  an  inch  of  ice, 
which  did  not,  however,  prevent  me  from  having 
my  morning  bath.  Before  breakfast  I  got  two 
partridges.  We  let  the  sun  warm  up  the  blankets 
and  packs,  and  we  started  at  9.30  down  the  moun- 
tain, through  a  pleasant  fertile  valley  of  long  flats 
covered  with  grass.     There  were  streams  running 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  155 

in  all  directions,  and  on  either  side  low  hills  covered 
with  small  shrubs  and  grass.  Only  a  few  habita- 
tions were  to  be  seen,  and  near  them  cattle,  sheep, 
horses,  mules  and  llamas  were  grazing.  At  a  place 
called  Morochata  I  hired  a  mud  hut  for  myself  for 
2/-,  and  bought  some  barley  in  the  straw  for  the 
mules  and  horse.  As  I  wanted  to  replace  Ricardo 
here,  we  stayed  the  next  day,  and  I  eventually 
found  and  engaged  another  boy  called  Jose.  I 
took  the  opportunity  here  of  buying  flour,  got  the 
loan  of  an  oven,  and  the  cook  made  bread,  and  we 
replenished  our  stock  of  potatoes  and  onions,  which 
seemed  to  do  very  well  here.  Everything  was  ex- 
tremely cheap.  The  village  consisted  of  about 
twenty  huts ;  the  land  round  about  belongs  partly 
to  the  Government,  and  partly  to  a  gentleman 
living  at  Cochabamba,  who  finds  the  land,  seed, 
oven,  ploughs,  mud  bricks  and  thatch  for  the  huts, 
and  keeps  a  foreman  who  looks  after  the  property 
for  a  small  salary,  also  cultivating  his  own  small 
piece  of  land.  At  harvest-time  the  crops  are 
divided  between  the  cultivators  and  the  proprietor, 
who  sends  in  what  is  wanted  from  his  store  at 
Cochabamba,  and  takes  it  out  of  their  share  of  the 
crop.  I  have  often  thought  this  system  would 
answer  well  in  other  countries  besides  Bolivia. 
Next  day  we  continued  the  journey,  and  after  a 

12 


156        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

few  miles  came  to  the  foot  of  the  Santa  Rosa 
Mountains.  The  path  up  the  mountain  was  a  long 
one,  but  not  too  steep,  and  the  ground  at  the  top 
of  the  pass  was  covered  with  a  thin  layer  of  frozen 
snow.  The  height  of  this  pass  was  16,000ft.  There 
are  always  large  heaps  of  stones  piled  up  in  pyramid 
shape  at  the  top  of  every  pass,  and  one  or  two 
solitary  graves  with  crosses  where  somebody  has 
passed  away.  The  path  down  to  the  river  was  long 
and  winding,  through  partial  forest,  with  very  few 
birds,  and  not  many  flowers.  I  got  off  my  white 
mule,  and  led  her  down  the  hill,  wearing  the 
speedometer,  or  hexemeter,  as  some  people  call  it, 
which  registered  nearly  nine  miles  from  the  pass  to 
the  river.  None  of  the  land  on  either  side 
appeared  to  be  occupied  at  all,  and  we  met  nobody 
on  the  road.  We  decided  to  pitch  two  tents  just 
across  the  river  where  there  was  plenty  of  grass 
growing  on  a  wide  bank  and  up  the  hill  the  other 
side,  plenty  of  wood  and  water  near,  and  no 
dwellings  to  be  seen  in  the  distance. 

The  country  was  now  new  to  old  Zam,  who  had 
never  been  further  than  Morochata,  the  place  we 
left  that  morning,  and  the  boy,  Jose,  said  it  was 
another  seven  leagues  from  here  to  the  top  of  the 
hill  this  side  of  Palca,  with  a  swamp  to  cross  over 
on  the  way.    On  these  occasions,  as  we  had  no  bell 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  157 

mare,  my  chestnut  horse,  an  old  hurdle  racer  from 
Santiago,  was  hobbled,  and  a  bell  was  tied  round 
his  neck  with  a  long  rope  and  a  stone  at  the  far 
end  for  further  security.  The  mules  and  donkeys 
would  follow  him  like  a  dog,  and  he  was  always 
led  to  the  best  grazing  ground. 

The  next  day,  after  two  hours  and  a  half's 
marching  up  and  down  hill,  we  got  to  the  top  of 
another  range  of  hills.  At  the  bottom  was  a  wide 
green  valley,  with  several  small  streams;  as  we 
came  closer  we  could  see  that  it  was  very  swampy 
in  places,  and  I  was  told  afterwards  in  Palca  that 
during  the  rainy  season  these  swamps  are  very 
often  impassable  for  days  together.  There  was 
only  one  place  where  it  was  possible  to  cross,  and 
fortunately  the  boy  from  Morochata  knew  where  it 
was,  as  nobody  else  did.  Even  at  this  place  when 
one  of  the  mules  went  a  few  yards  off  the  beaten 
track,  he  began  to  sink,  and  floundered  back  only 
just  in  time.  Palca  was  some  five  leagues  further 
on,  in  the  belt  of  forest  at  the  foot  of  a  valley,  and 
surrounded  by  hills.  In  this  valley  I  saw  many 
bushes  and  flowers  very  similar  to  what  is  seen  in 
Trinidad,  which  was  rather  strange,  considering 
that  the  height  of  Palca  is  7,500ft.  and  the  highest 
hill  in  Trinidad  is,  I  think,  only  2,800ft.  Near 
Palca  are  a  good  many  large  farms  where  wheat, 


158        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

barley  and  maize  are  grown,  and  sheep,  cattle, 
mules  and  horses  are  reared.  I  hired  a  hut  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  this  side  of  the  village,  from  a 
very  obliging  Indian,  whose  business  was  tanning 
hides  with  the  quebracho  bark,  and  decided  to  take 
on  from  him  an  Indian  who  knew  Cuti,  so  re- 
mained there  for  the  next  day.  From  here  there 
was  no  real  path  between  Palca  and  Cuti,  only  a 
few  beaten  tracks  leading  over  the  hills  to  the  dif- 
ferent Indian  settlements.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  large  farms  owned  by  seven  or  eight  men, 
who  work  them  on  the  share  system  already 
described,  all  these  vast  lands  are  quite  unoccupied 
and  unexplored :  there  are  just  a  few  Indian 
squatters  here  and  there  living  far  apart. 

The  town  of  Palca  consists  of  a  few  houses  and 
has  a  church  and  a  priest.  It  is  noted  for  its 
excellent  brew  of  chicha,  which  makes  a  whole- 
some and  refreshing  drink. 

The  tanner's  wife,  a  pleasant,  civil  Indian 
woman,  asked  her  brother  to  take  me  to  the  ranch 
of  a  very  old  Indian,  who  lived  on  a  sheep  and 
maize  farm  at  the  foot  of  the  Sapo  mountain,  and 
who,  he  said,  would  know  all  the  old  men  in  the 
district.  He  took  me  there  the  next  day,  and  I 
put  up  at  the  old  man's  house.  His  name  was  Jose, 
and  he  claimed  to  be  99  years  old ;  he  knew  Jose 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  159 

Maria  well,  and  said  that  he  was  some  years  older 
than  he  was  himself.  He  was  a  strong,  healthy 
fellow,  and  had  lived  all  his  life  in  this  pure  at- 
mosphere. The  scenery  round  here  was  very  fine ; 
the  lands  for  leagues  around  belonged  to  a  man  at 
Palca,  and  were  worked  by  several  families  of 
Indians,  who  grew  maize,  wheat  and  barley  on 
the  share  system,  and  had  flocks  of  sheep  feeding 
on  the  extensive  grass  lands  between  the  River 
Cori  Mayo  and  the  forest.  Jose  sold  me  sheep 
whenever  I  wanted  one  for  4/-  each,  rented  me 
two  huts,  one  for  myself  and  the  other  for  a 
kitchen,  and  lent  me  the  oven  for  2/-  a  day.  By 
his  advice,  I  sent  Zambrana  down  the  river  to  Jose 
Maria  Ampuera  with  a  present  of  tea,  sugar, 
cocoa,  tobacco,  matches,  biscuits  and  cheese,  and 
a  few  pounds  of  coca  leaves,  with  a  note,  telling 
him  I  had  come  to  look  for  the  treasure  with  the 
data  supplied  by  Corina  San  Roman,  and  wanted 
to  visit  him.  Mariano  was  sick  just  then  with  a 
sort  of  cholera,  which  had  been  brought  on  by  his 
own  greed.  On  the  way  to  Palca,  I  had  bought 
half  a  sack  of  apples  at  a  farm  with  an  orchard, 
and  he  had  eaten  too  many.  He  wanted  to  return 
to  his  home  in  Cochabamba,  so  I  paid  him  off,  gave 
him  provisions  for  ten  days,  and  took  the  Indian 
boy  from  Palca  in  his  stead. 


160        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Jose  told  me  that  the  Sapo  Mountain,  as  far  as 
he  knew,  had  never  been  visited  for  thirty-five 
years,  that  there  were  several  abandoned  socabons 
(mining  tunnels)  there,  and  that  the  settlers  occa- 
sionally washed  gold  out  of  the  Cori  Mayo,  so  I 
decided  to  explore  this  mountain  while  waiting  for 
Zambrana  to  come  back.      The  next  day,  after 
breakfast,  I  rode  off  on  the  white  mule  up  a  path 
which  Jose  showed  me,  which  led  to  a  dip  in  the 
mountain  where  he  said  I  should  find  a  big  socabon. 
I  took  Juan  and  the  Indian  from  Palca  with  me 
to  clear  the  path  when  necessary,  leaving  Manuel 
to  look  after  the  horse,  mules  and  donkey,  and  his 
wife  to  make  bread  and  attend  to  the  kitchen.     It 
was  not  more  than  two  leagues  to  the  hollow,  but 
it  took  from  8  a.m.  to  4  p.m.  to  get  there,  as  we 
had  constantly  to  clear  the  track,  which  was  over- 
grown in  most  places,  so  we  went  down  again, 
intending  to  go  and  look  at  the  tunnel  next  day. 
I  saw  lots  of  bush  chickens  in  the  forest  on  the 
way  up,  and  decided  to  take  the  gun  with  me  next 
day.     Next  morning  I  took  Manuel's  son,  Juan, 
and  the  Indian  boy  with  me,  and  rode  off  with  the 
white  mule  to  explore  the  socabon.     It  was  situ- 
ated at  14,200ft.  just  above  the  forest  line,  which 
stops  at  about  14,000ft.     The  view  from  here  was 
quite  magnificent ;  a  vast  expanse  of  country  could 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  161 

be  seen  for  miles  around,  entirely  unoccupied 
except  for  three  or  four  isolated  huts.  The  socabon 
was  thiry-five  yards  long,  fifteen  yards  wide,  and 
fifteen  high ;  there  was  no  dump  to  be  seen,  and 
everything  had  been  taken  away.  The  rock  was 
so  hard  that  no  timbering  up  was  required  at  all; 
in  fact,  there  was  not  a  post  to  be  seen,  although 
there  were  many  hard  wood  quebracho  trees  in  the 
forest  below,  ready  to  hand.  The  roof  was  ven- 
tilated in  six  parts.  In  the  left-hand  corner  near 
the  entrance  it  appeared  to  be  hollow  on  sounding. 
I  took  some  samples  of  blue  quartz  rock  and  lime 
from  the  lode,  where  the  Jesuits  had  left  off. 
There  was  no  doubt  that  this  was  one  of  the  old 
Jesuit  mines,  which  had  been  lost  to  sight  and 
abandoned  for  many  years.  There  were  several 
other  old  workings  in  the  vicinity  on  the  mountain, 
all  showing  the  same  clear  work,  and  no  dumping. 
Another  big  tunnel  ran  underneath  the  hill  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  first  one.  This  mine 
had  no  supports,  or  timbering  of  any  kind.  I  saw 
another  tunnel  of  the  same  sort  high  up  on  the  top 
of  the  mountain,  of  the  same  blue  rock  quartz.  I 
took  samples  from  the  first  mine;  some  of  them 
gave  indications  only,  others  which  I  had  essayed 
later  in  London  by  Mix,  a  mining  engineer,  gave 
2ozs.  3dwt.  of  gold,  and  8ozs.  6dwt.  of  silver  to 


162        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

the  ton.  The  priest  at  Palca  told  me  afterwards 
that  the  lapis  lazuli  sent  to  Rome  by  the  Jesuits 
and  the  famous  chain  worn  by  the  Archbishops  of 
the  La  Paz  Province  of  Ayacucho,  called  Upper 
Peru  in  those  days,  had  come  from  a  mountain 
called  Mount  Sapo,  but  that  nobody  had  ever  been 
able  to  locate  the  place,  until  I  found  it.  On  my 
return  to  Cochabamba  I  took  up  the  concession 
and  denounced  two  hundred  per  tinencias,  which 
was  about  five  hundred  acres.  Mr.  J.  O.  Gentry, 
of  Kansas  City,  a  partner  of  Haggin  &  McEwan, 
and  the  owner  of  the  Cerro  Pasco,  Peru,  told  me 
that  if  I  put  on  eighty  men,  got  out  quartz  during 
the  six  months'  dry  season,  and  left  it  there,  they 
would  then  send  one  of  their  mining  expert  en- 
gineers to  report,  and  if  the  report  was  favourable 
they  would  take  it  over,  putting  on  as  many  stamps 
as  the  mine  would  carry,  and  giving  me  one-third 
of  the  profits.  There  was  plenty  of  water  and 
wood  near  and  good  grazing  ground  all  around, 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  but  up  to  now  I  have 
never  been  able  to  get  any  Company  to  take  up 
this  proposition. 

Zambrana  returned  soon  after  with  an  answer 
from  old  Jose  Maria,  saying  that  if  I  would  come 
and  see  him  in  a  fortnight  he  would  take  me  to 
the  foot  of  the  hill,  where  the  bulk  of  the  treasure 
was  supposed  to  be  buried. 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  168 

I  spent  most  of  the  fortnight  doing  prospecting 
work  on  Mount  Sapo,  and  shooting  bush  chickens, 
\\  hich  were  so  plentiful  that  I  got  them  whenever 
I  wanted.  One  day  I  winged  a  big  condor  at  long 
range,  but  failed  to  get  him.  In  the  valley  just 
outside  the  forest,  I  several  times  saw  beautiful 
<4  olden  and  silver  pheasants ;  there  were  never  more 
than  two  at  a  time,  and  they  were  always  at  the 
same  place.  They  were  far  too  pretty  for  me  to 
fire  at,  and  exceedingly  tame,  as  were  the  bush 
chickens ;  all  that  was  necessary  was  just  to  go  to 
the  roosting  trees  at  dusk,  and  take  a  chance  shot. 
Two  days  after  Zam  got  back,  I  sent  him  down 
the  valley,  to  get  half  a  bag  of  flour  crushed  by  a 
water-mill,  which  only  cost  3/6,  2/6  for  the  wheat 
and  1/-  for  the  crushing.  He  returned  in  the 
evening  with  a  tall,  well-made  Indian,  who  asked 
me  to  come  down  and  see  his  boy,  aged  fourteen, 
who  had  a  bad  attack  of  malaria.  I  promised  to 
do  so  next  day,  and  the  Indian  returned  to  his 
home.  The  following  day  I  took  Zam  to  lead  his 
mule  and  my  chestnut  horse,  and  the  boy  to  carry 
my  gun,  as  there  were  plenty  of  fat  pigeons  on  the 
lower  ground  where  the  Indian  lived.  We  walked 
leisurely  down  the  valley  along  a  good  Indian  path 
for  about  nine  miles,  taking  three  hours,  and  got 
there  at  11  a.m.     I  saw  the  boy,  and  gave  him 


164        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

some  pills,  and  told  his  mother  and  father  before 
I  left  to  give  him  hot  boiled  cow's  milk  and  stop 
cramming  spoonfuls  of  pearl  barley  and  boiled 
maize  down  his  throat,  which  I  found  they  were 
doing.  I  shot  six  pigeons  there,  and  they  gave 
me  some  cabbages,  young  onions  and  a  pine.  On 
the  way  back,  I  enjoyed  the  lovely  scenery  on  both 
sides  of  the  valley.  Next  day  I  went  to  see  the 
boy  again,  taking  the  white  mule  to  ride  back  on, 
and  the  red  roan  mule  to  bring  back  two  bags  of 
potatoes.  I  found  the  boy  improved,  put  him  on 
weak  tea  and  toast,  and  hot  milk,  and  gave  him  a 
dose  of  quinine,  leaving  another  dose  for  his 
mother  to  give  him  two  hours  after  dark.  I  shot 
four  pigeons,  and  the  Indians  gave  me  six  fresh 
eggs  and  another  cabbage.  Next  day  I  went  down 
again  with  the  horse,  and  found  the  boy  much 
better,  and  sitting  outside.  I  gave  him  some 
quinine,  and  made  him  some  hot  Liebig's  Extract, 
giving  his  mother  a  big  pot,  and  telling  her  to 
make  him  drink  three  cups  a  day  for  four  days, 
and  then  come  up  and  let  me  know  how  he  was. 
I  also  left  a  tin  of  tea  and  some  sugar  for  her,  and 
two  pigeons  to  grill  for  the  boy.  They  were  very 
grateful,  and  wanted  to  give  me  all  sorts  of  things ; 
I  accepted  a  young  kid,  and  had  it  done  on  the 
spit  next  night  for  dinner. 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  165 

Four  days  afterwards,  the  Indian  came  with  a 
large  bunch  of  bananas,  his  wife  with  two  bottles 
of  milk  and  a  fowl,  and  his  little  girl  with  some 
pines  and  eggs.  I  remonstrated  with  him,  but  he 
said  I  had  cured  his  boy,  and  so  long  as  I  was  here 
it  was  his  duty  to  bring  me  supplies,  a  sure  proof 
that  these  people  are  grateful  and  easy  to  get  on 
with  if  properly  treated.  At  the  appointed  time, 
we  started  off  to  the  home  of  Jose  Maria  Am- 
puera,  getting  there  early  in  the  morning  on  the 
second  day.  The  old  man  told  me  he  would  show 
the  hill  to  anyone  coming  from  a  daughter  of 
General  San  Roman.  He  said  his  father  had  told 
him  that  this  was  the  place,  and  that  his  grand- 
father had  been  with  the  priests,  Gregorio  and  San 
Roman,  when  they  hid  the  treasure.  His  grand- 
father and  father  had  been  very  well  off,  and 
owned  land  and  cattle,  and  he  himself  had  in- 
herited land  and  cattle  from  his  father.  The 
Bolivian  Government  took  away  his  land,  and 
eight  hundred  of  his  cattle,  leaving  him  only  with 
his  present  holding  and  fifty  head;  this  was  in 
Malgarejo's  time,  and  for  that  reason,  when 
President  Malgarejo  came  down  to  the  River 
Sacambaja  with  half  a  regiment  of  soldiers  to  dig 
and  hunt  for  the  treasure,  he  refused  to  show  them 
the    place.      He    showed    me    afterwards    where 


166        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


^ 


President  Malgarejo  prospected  for  it;  they  were 
not  very  far  off,  but  on  the  wrong  side  of  the 
river.  Jose  told  me  how  fifty  years  ago  he  and 
his  sons  found  a  gold  bell  weighing  40lbs.,  which 
they  sold,  and  bought  land  and  cattle,  but  in 
uncovering  the  tapada  some  rocks  fell  and  killed 
one  of  his  boys ;  he  and  his  other  son  took  this  as 
a  bad  omen  and  never  tried  to  find  any  more.  He 
promised  to  show  me  the  place  where  they  found 
it.  The  reason  he  had  not  sent  in  for  his  money 
from  the  agent  of  Father  San  Roman  was  that 
after  the  priest  died  he  did  not  know  to  whom  to 
apply,  and  he  thought  the  family  in  Lima  would 
be  sure  to  send  something  in  to  him. 

Jose  thought  it  advisable  that  we  should  go 
separately  to  the  place  where  the  treasure  was,  as 
if  people  were  to  see  us  travelling  together  they 
might  suspect  something  and  follow  us  and  the 
law  of  treasure  is  very  stringent.  So  he  sug- 
gested I  should  go  a  roundabout  way  along  the 
valley  of  the  Calatranca  Range,  cross  over  the 
highest  pass,  and  make  for  the  River  Sacambaja 
below,  and  he  would  go  by  a  more  direct  and 
easier  path  and  meet  me  down  below  on  the 
banks  of  the  Sacambaja.  I  left  the  cook  to  go 
with  the  old  man,  and  sent  Zambrana  to  Cuti  to 
get  a  sheep  for  4/-  and  follow  on  with  the  old 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  167 

Indian  in  two  days'  time,  while  Manuel,  his  boy 
and  the  two  other  men  went  the  other  way  with 
the  mules  and  donkey  and  horse.  We  camped 
that  night  near  the  path  over  the  mountain,  but 
soon  after  we  had  pitched  the  tents  and  let  loose 
the  mules,  with  the  chestnut  horse  as  bell  mare, 
Manuel  brought  me  the  news  that  there  were  other 
travellers  evidently  going  the  same  way  as  we 
were,  and  that  he  could  see  their  fire  behind  us, 
but  he  thought  it  did  not  matter,  as  they  would 
now  follow  us  over  the  high  pass.  Where  we 
camped  there  was  no  forest,  only  a  few  hardy  trees 
and  bushes  growing  in  the  gully ;  we  were  15,200ft. 
up,  very  near  the  snowline.  There  was  a  light 
layer  of  frozen  snow  near  the  camp  on  either  side 
of  the  gully,  plenty  of  long  tufty  mule  grass 
growing  all  about,  and  a  stream  of  very  cold  water 
with  ice  and  snow  on  the  edges.  After  the  sun 
went  down  it  got  very  cold ;  but  we  had  a  good 
Irish  stew  for  supper,  and  plenty  of  everything, 
and  with  two  big  fires  going,  one  near  my  tent, 
the  other  near  the  men's,  we  passed  a  comfortable 
night.  Next  morning  after  a  bath  in  the  cold 
stream  I  dressed  in  front  of  a  big  fire,  made  a 
good  breakfast  and  started  off  at  9.30,  riding  my 
mule,  but  getting  off  at  steep  places.  The  path 
was  one  of  the  Inca  tracks,  broad  and  well  made, 


J 


168        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

cut  out  of  rock,  with  very  gradual  inclines,  and 
was  able  to  ride  most  of  the  way.  At  11  a.m.  t 
aneroid  registered  17,000ft.,  and  at  1  p.m.  we  got 
to  the  top  of  the  pass;  the  last  hour  and  a  half 
going  over  frozen  snow.  I  wrote  down  19,000f 
in  my  diary  for  the  height  of  the  pass,  and  w; 
probably  not  far  oflF  the  mark,  as  the  aneroid  does 
not  register  over  17,000ft.,  and  Lisandro  Menf 
dizabal,  the  wealthy  owner  of  Cuti  and  the  Alcalde 
of  the  district,  afterwards  told  me  that  was  very 
likely  the  height  as  the  top  of  the  mountain  was 
21,500ft.,  and  always  covered  with  snow.  We 
were  not  followed  any  more.  From  the  cairn  of 
stones  on  the  summit  we  saw  an  immense  expanse 
of  country;  nobody  was  to  be  seen,  no  dwelling 
and  no  living  thing,  except  some  big  white  col- 
lared condors  sailing  magnificently  in  the  clear  air 
without  any  apparent  movement.  Down  the  hill 
we  followed  the  broad  Inca  and  Jesuit  road,  which 
is  cut  out  of  the  rock  and  in  places  runs  along  the 
extreme  edge  of  the  precipice,  and  after  ten  miles, 
of  which  the  last  few  miles  were  through  forest, 
reached  the  River  Sacambaja. 

Jose  Maria,  Zam  and  Manuel's  wife  were  wait- 
ing down  below,  and  we  pitched  camp  there  for 
the  night.  Next  day,  after  nine  miles  of  fairly 
level  going  up  the  river,  we  got  to  the  foot  of  the 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  169 

Caballo  Cunco  Hill,  where  Jose  said  the  treasure 
was  buried.  I  pitched  my  two  tents  and  kitchen 
on  the  level  river  beach  which  is  about  half  a  mile 
wide,  and  extends  all  the  way  up  and  down  the 
Rivers  Cato  and  Sacambaja,  and  Manuel  ran  up  a 
rough  shed  for  the  mules  to  feed  in,  and  another 
for  himself.  There  was  plenty  of  wood  all  over 
the  beach,  and  the  forest  all  around  was  full  of  fat 
wild  cattle.  Near  the  camp  just  inside  the  forest 
was  a  clear  stream  of  water  with  some  deep  pools, 
and  there  were  plenty  of  guava  trees  in  the  forest. 
The  big  Rivers  Cuti  and  Sacambaja  were  only  two 
hundred  yards  away,  but  their  water  is  not  very 
good  to  drink,  as  the  broad  sandy  beach  is  full  of 
nitrate.  Jose  Maria  told  me  that  in  the  rainy 
season,  which  starts  down  here  in  the  middle  of 
October,  these  two  rivers  form  one  big  sheet  of 
water ;  the  Caballo  Cunco  Hill  becomes  an  island, 
and  the  water  is  so  deep  and  the  current  so  strong 
that  no  one  can  cross  for  weeks  and  months  at  a 
time. 

Jose  Maria  was  too  old  to  walk  up  the  very 
steep  path  which  could  be  seen  leading  up  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  where  the  big  stone  was.  Next  day 
I  went  up  with  Manuel,  Zambrana  and  the  two 
boys,  all  carrying  machetes  to  clear  the  way.  At 
the  top  I  found  the  big  stone  shaped  like  an  egg. 


170        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


1 

e  saiPI 


and  on  looking  to  right,  left  and  behind  we 
the  Rivers  Cato  and  Saeambaja  down  below,  run- 
ning into  one  main  stream.  The  scenery  was 
exactly  as  described  by  the  paper  in  my  possession, 
I  took  the  exact  position  of  the  hill,  and  at  once 
sent  Zam  to  inform  Don  Lisandro  Mendizabal, 
who  lived  at  Cuti,  twenty-seven  miles  oflF.  The 
nearest  house  was  Jose  Maria's,  eighteen  miles  off. 
Through  Don  Lisandro  I  sent  my  application  to 
the  Government  in  La  Paz,  who  two  months  later 
sent  down  one  of  their  officials  with  six  soldiers  to 
give  me  the  documents  of  formal  possession. 
These  documents  still  hold  good,  and  are  in  my 
possession,  signed  by  the  Minister  of  Mines,  and 
witnessed  according  to  law. 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  give  the  rules 
issued  by  General  Jose  Manuel  Pardo  regarding 
tapadas  (hidden  or  buried  treasure). 

''  A  tapada  shall  be  the  property  of  the  finder 
provided  he  comply  with  the  following  conditions  : 

"  The  finder  must  not  absent  himself  from  the 
spot  even  for  a  day  until  he  has  been  given  formal 
possession.  He  must  notify  the  owner  of  the  soil, 
if  it  has  an  owner.  The  finder  on  finding  buried 
treasure  must  at  once  notify  the  authority  ap- 
pointed by  the  Government  of  La  Paz,  who  will 
at  once  inform  the  supreme  authorities  in  La  Paz ; 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  171 

they  will  despatch  a  detachment  of  soldiers  and 
one  or  more  mining  engineers  to  take  out  the 
buried  treasure,  which  will  be  divided  up  in  La 
Paz,  25  per  cent  going  to  the  Government  and 
75  per  cent  to  the  finder. 

**  The  owner  of  the  soil  may  participate  in  one 
half  of  the  finder's  share,  provided  he  comply  with 
the  following  conditions.  Six  weeks  or  forty-two 
days  after  the  authorities  have  been  notified,  he 
must  present  himself  at  La  Paz,  and  give  informa- 
tion. He  must  then  within  the  time  specified 
render  assistance  to  the  finder  by  providing,  pay- 
ing and  maintaining  thirty  men  to  uncover  the 
tapada.  If  he  fails  to  comply  with  these  condi- 
tions within  the  time  allowed,  namely,  forty-two 
days,  he  loses  all  rights." 

Keeping  my  saddle  mule  down  here  to  use  when 
wanted,  I  sent  Manuel  with  the  horse  and  the 
other  animals  up  the  valley  where  the  grass  was 
good,  telling  him  to  come  down  in  a  week's  time 
for  more  provisions.  Jose  Maria  wanted  to  make 
himself  useful,  so  I  gave  the  old  man  the  job  of 
bringing  down  a  4/-  sheep  and  2/-  worth  of  pota- 
toes every  Saturday.  One  day  I  asked  Jose  how 
old  he  was,  and  he  replied  he  did  not  exactly  know, 
but  was  certainly  several  years  over  one  hundred. 

He  said  his  father  told  him  the  convent  was  com- 

13 


172        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

pleted  in  1705,  but  in  1745  the  Jesuits  abandoned 
Sacambaja,  knowing  they  were  going  to  be  ex- 
pelled from  Peru.  The  remains  of  the  convent, 
several  other  buildings,  some  stone  mounds,  and 
the  great  mud  and  stone  wall  still  exist. 

I  started  off  the  excavation  by  blowing  the  big, 
egg-shaped  stone  to  pieces  with  dynamite.  The 
stone  was  exactly  ten  feet  high  above  the  ground, 
five  feet  below,  and  fourteen  feet  wide  round  the 
middle.  The  roof  of  the  cave  was  covered  over 
by  earth  and  grass  for  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet, 
except  at  the  end  where  the  big  stone  was,  where 
it  was  covered  rather  deeper.  The  roof  itself  was 
divided  into  three  equal  squares,  each  twenty-five 
feet  long,  and  the  whole  roof  was,  as  far  as  could 
be  judged,  seventy-five  feet  long  and  thirty  feet 
broad ;  it  was  covered  all  over  with  stone,  cut  and 
shaped  like  bricks,  and  large  slabs  of  big  slate 
stone.  The  partitions  were  divided  by  stone 
bricks,  six  inches  high.  All  the  work  was  very 
well  and  carefully  done.  After  we  had  exposed 
the  roof,  the  question  was,  which  side  to  tackle 
first.  Eventually,  I  decided  to  make  a  start  on 
the  south  side.  Mendizabal,  who  always  took, 
and  still  takes  the  greatest  interest  in  the  uncover- 
ing of  the  top  of  this  hill,  had  sent  me  a  reinforce- 
ment of  three   Indians,   or  colonias  as  they  are 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  173 

called,  whom  I  paid  1/-  per  day,  and  their  food, 
and  I  replaced  Manuel's  son  by  Manuel  himself, 
letting  the  boy  tend  the  animals.  This  made  four 
men  and  a  boy,  and  myself  for  the  work.  We 
started  at  7.30  every  morning,  and  dug  away  for 
all  we  were  worth  until  six  o'clock  at  night,  knock- 
ing off  only  from  twelve  o'clock  to  one  o'clock  for 
the  cold  lunch  and  water  which  we  carried  with  us. 

After  a  breakfast  of  Irish  stew  at  7  a.m.,  we 
walked  at  once  up  the  hill,  which  was  so  steep  that 
no  mule  was  ever  made  to  go  up  with  more  than 
50lbs.  of  cargo.  The  distance  was  measured  by 
hexemeter  as  2,600  metres.  Manuel  and  the  men 
always  got  to  the  top  before  me,  but  not  by  much. 

During  the  whole  time  I  did  the  crowbar  work 
myself,  and  the  others  rested  while  I  was  moving 
the  big  stones  to  be  rolled  down  the  cliff  and 
through  the  forest  to  the  river  below.  After 
working  on  the  south  side  for  two  days,  I  aban- 
doned that  end,  as  I  saw  no  signs  of  the  hand  of  a 
man,  and  began  digging  down  on  the  north  side 
facing  the  River  Cato.  It  was  soon  evident  by 
many  indications  that  the  formation  here  was  the 
work  of  man,  and  not  of  nature.  I  found  the 
bones  of  birds,  guinea-pigs,  some  snail  shells  that 
are  generally  found  on  trees,  and  stones  and 
pebbles  from  the  river  beach  below,  and  when,  at 


174        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

the  depth  of  nine  feet,  I  picked  up  a  wooden  cork, 
and,  at  twelve  feet,  a  yellow  altar  slab  with  flowers 
nicely  engraved  on  it,  there  was  no  longer  any 
doubt  in  my  mind.  Mendizabal,  who  had  just  ar- 
rived with  the  authorities  from  La  Paz,  was  of  the 
same  opinion.  Don  Tomas,  the  engineer,  told  me 
that  the  journey  back  to  La  Paz  would  take  them 
eight  to  ten  days,  and  they  wanted  meat,  so,  be- 
fore the  officials  returned  to  La  Paz,  we  organized 
a  hunt  for  wild  cattle,  and  got  two  young  bulls 
and  a  cow,  which  we  made  into  charque  or  dried 
meat,  by  cutting  them  into  strips,  and  then  salting 
them  out  in  the  sun.  I  shot  one  bull  and  the  cow, 
and  Mendizabal  the  other  with  my  double  sixteen 
bore  Holland  and  Holland.  All  the  cattle  without 
a  brand  in  Bolivia  are  considered  wild,  and 
belong  to  the  Government,  and  anybody  may 
catch  or  kill  as  many  as  they  like,  provided 
they  pay  the  nearest  authority  £2  a  head 
on  behalf  of  the  State.  Mendizabal  told  me 
that  a  few  years  ago,  some  twenty  days'  jour- 
ney further,  he  bought  two  thousand  heads  in  that 
way  down  the  River  Sacambaja  near  the  Brazilian 
frontier.  He  made  four  trips,  two  each  year  in 
the  dry  season,  and  drove  down  two  hundred  tame 
cattle  to  the  vast  grassy  prairies  in  the  interior 
where  the  wild  c^\^^  were  pIcDtifuJ.     The  Ijtidia^s 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  175 

living  there  make  a  business  of  rounding  up  wild 
cattle;  they  first  fence  in  big  tracts  of  land,  and 
drive  numbers  of  cattle  into  these  open  savannas, 
then  they  round  off  a  certain  number  into  a  corral, 
and  the  tame  cattle  are  then  allowed  to  mingle 
with  them,  and  they  are  eventually  driven  off  to 
their  new  home.  The  Indians  always  accompany 
the  herds  for  the  first  four  or  six  days  for  about 
10/-  a  head,  and  in  this  way  very  few  are  lost. 
Mendizabal  drove  back  one  hundred  of  the  tame 
cattle  with  each  batch  of  five  hundred  of  the  wild. 
Don  Lisandro  also  told  me  he  bought  his  big 
estancia  (ranch)  at  Cuti,  from  the  Government ;  it 
is  nine  leagues  wide,  mostly  grass  with  plenty  of 
water.  The  boundary  on  the  north  is  the  River 
Sacambaja.  There  are  all  sorts  of  climates  on  this 
estate,  from  tropical  heat  to  the  intense  cold  of 
the  Calatranca  Range.  When  he  bought  the 
place,  there  were  one  hundred  and  five  families  of 
Indian  squatters  on  the  land,  whom  he  valued  more 
highly  than  the  land.  They  all  stayed  and  became 
Colonists  under  him,  and  he  has  a  code  of  rides 
M^hich  are  just  and  strict.  They  all  look  up  to  him 
very  much,  and  call  him  Tata  (father).  There  is 
no  drunkenness  and  no  thieving.  When  any  man 
wants  to  marry,  he  has  to  show  a  hut  and  a  plot 
of  ground,  ready  for  sowing,  and  enough  food  in 


176        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


1 


the  house  for  one  year,  and  seed  for  the  next. 
Everything  is  done  on  the  half  share  system,  Don 
Lisandro  supplying  the  land,  implements  and  seed. 
When  the  harvest  comes  round  all  the  grain  is 
taken  to  the  estancia  house,  and  equally  divided 
between  him  and  the  growers.  They  are  at  liberty 
to  go  and  work  outside  whenever  they  like,  pro- 
vided they  get  his  permission,  which  is  always 
given  except  in  crop  time.  I  had  several  of  his 
men  working  for  me  at  various  times,  but  they 
never  stayed  very  long ;  they  used  to  say  there  was 
no  necessity  for  them  to  work  outside,  except 
when  they  wanted  some  money  to  buy  something. 
Don  Lisandro  did  not  keep  any  stock,  but  grew 
maize,  barley,  wheat,  ochres,  potatoes  and  onions 
in  large  quantities ;  he  had  sheep  and  llamas  feed- 
ing on  the  higher  ground,  and  horses,  mules  and 
cattle  on  the  more  sheltered  ground.  He  took 
great  pride  in  his  horses,  and  bred  from  a  pacer 
and  a  half-bred  Arab;  he  was  a  great  believer  in 
the  Arab  strain.  The  estancia  house,  stables, 
wool-shed,  granary  and  other  buildings  form  a 
square  round  a  large  open  yard  with  grass 
plots  in  the  middle,  and  the  whole  is  surrounded 
by  a  broad  walk  twenty  feet  high,  and  entered  by 
a  gate  of  the  same  height,  opening  from  within. 
The  climate  is  good  and  the  scenery  grand ;  there 


THE  CABALLO  CUNCO  TREASURE  177 

is  plenty  of  shooting,  and  no  neighbours  nearer 
than  thirty-six  miles.  There  was  a  horse  and  mule- 
breaker  and  a  carpenter  kept  on  the  premises. 
The  farm  was  not  fenced  in  at  all,  there  were 
merely  a  few  paddocks  near  the  house  for  con- 
venience, as  the  Bolivian  law  does  not,  like  Ar- 
gentine law,  oblige  the  owner  of  an  estancia  to 
fence  it  in  within  so  many  years,  a  very  expensive 
item.  He  has  a  church,  which  he  built  himself, 
and  he  keeps  it  in  very  good  order ;  the  door  is  kept 
open  from  daylight  to  dark,  as  the  custom  is  in 
these  countries,  and  a  priest  comes  from  Palca 
twice  a  year,  and  remains  a  week  or  ten  days.  All 
the  produce  is  sent  to  Oruro  and  La  Paz  by  cargo 
mules. 

Don  Lisandro  said  he  had  often  been  looking 
for  the  Jesuit  treasure  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  He  once  found  a  lot  of  skulls  and  bones 
near  the  convent,  and  opposite  on  the  hill  called 
the  "  Negro  Muerto,"  where  the  men  were  buried 
that  died  in  the  fever  epidemic.  He  never  found 
any  treasure,  but  the  Indian  owner  of  the  Caballo 
Cunco  Hill,  that  I  denounced,  had  found  over 
£20,000  worth,  and  he  had  bought  large  tracts  of 
land  and  many  cattle  and  sheep  with  the  money. 
Just  before  I  left  Sacambaja  the  owner  of  the  soil 
sent  his  wife  to  say  he  hoped  I  would  be  lucky 


178        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


I 


enough  to  get  something,  and,  as  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  he  did  not  wish  to  participate.  M 

The  dry  season  was  now  at  an  end.  I  left 
Manuel  at  the  hill,  with  provisions,  as  caretaker, 
and  returned  in  the  middle  of  October  to 
Cochabamba,  going  on  from  there  to  Oruro  by 
the  same  way  by  which  I  came.  I  disposed  of  the 
mules  at  an  advantage.  I  stayed  a  few  days  there, 
and  went  on  by  train  from  Oruro,  which  takes  two 
days  and  two  nights,  travelling  only  by  day,  down 
to  the  important  town  of  Antofogasta,  the  nearest 
port  to  Bolivia — and  so  home. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   SECOND  ATTEMPT 

IN  March  of  the  next  year  I  started  off  again 
for  the  hills  to  renew  the  search.  I  got  to 
Oruro  at  the  end  of  the  month,  bought  four 
mules  for  cargo  and  a  saddle  mule  for  myself 
from  an  Argentine  trader,  and  went  on  to  Sacam- 
baja  via  Cochabamba  and  Palca.  At  Cuti  I  stayed 
for  five  days  with  my  old  friend  Mendizabal,  who 
came  on  with  me  to  the  hill.  The  first  two  days 
were  spent  in  going  for  wild  cattle,  as  Mendizabal 
wanted  to  make  some  charque  for  his  own  use,  and 
I  wanted  some  for  my  camp ;  we  got  four  cattle, 
and  divided  up  the  meat. 

On  the  third  day  I  started  uncovering  the  top 
of  the  hill,  working  downwards  in  a  "  V  "  shape 
from  where  I  had  left  off.  Exactly  fifteen  feet 
down  I  came  to  a  solid  mason  work,  one  big  square 
stone ;  and  then  a  slab  of  slate  stone ;  this  formation 

went  on  for  twelve  feet  down.    Then  I  came  on  a 

179 


180        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


1 


stone  cobble  path,  which  I  concluded  was  the 
bottom  of  the  cave,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  any 
door,  so  I  decided  to  drill  a  hole  between  two  blocks 
of  stones.  I  consulted  Mendizabal,  and  he  thought 
with  me  that  this  was  the  work  of  man,  and  not  a 
natural  formation.  He  brought  his  son  and  five 
Indians  to  lend  a  hand.  Before  we  started  to  drill, 
one  old  man  said  we  ought  to  offer  up  a  gift  of  a 
cock,  some  wine  and  bread,  and  leave  it  there  for 
the  night.  Mendizabal  said  we  must  humour  these 
people.  So  the  offer  asked  for  was  duly  left.  In 
the  morning  the  things  had  gone !  They  had 
probably  taken  them  themselves  but  swore  they 
had  not  done  so.     We  pretended  to  believe  them. 

We  drilled  a  hole  for  three  feet  and  a  half,  and 
then  pushed  a  thin  bamboo  twelve  feet  long 
through;  it  appeared  to  touch  nothing  except  in 
one  corner  where  it  seemed  to  prod  something  soft. 

Suddenly  a  very  powerful  smell  began,  so  strong 
that  it  made  us  all  feel  bad ;  it  smelt  like  oxide  of 
metal  of  some  sort.  Mendizabal  and  his  son  both 
went  home  feeling  bad,  but  he  got  over  it  in  two 
days,  his  son  felt  unwell  for  a  week,  but  I  got  over  it 
in  a  few  hours.  Three  of  my  men  left  feehng  bad 
and  never  returned.  The  other  three  men  I  had 
went  up  with  me  again  two  days  after,  and  when 
we  were  near  the  top  we  saw  over  a  dozen  big 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  181 

condors,  hovering  about  quite  close  to  the  works. 
Zambrana  and  Manuel  both  told  me  that  the  three 
Indians  said  this  was  a  sign  there  was  something 
buried  inside ;  they  all  seemed  rather  funky,  so  I 
said  I  would  give  it  a  rest  for  a  fortnight  to  let  it 
get  well  ventilated,  bearing  in  mind  what  the  paper 
said  about  there  being  enough  poison  inside  to  kill 
a  regiment.     This  was  on  June  3rd,  1906. 

On  the  night  of  June  4th,  the  weather  completely 
changed,  and  at  8  p.m.  the  thermometer  stood  at 
four  degrees  below  zero.  In  the  morning  at  7  a.m. 
it  was  seven  degrees  below  zero,  but  at  9  a.m.  it 
began  to  get  warm  again,  and  at  12.30  it  was 
eighty-seven  above  zero,  going  down  again  after 
sunset  quite  suddenly.  At  8  p.m.  that  evening  it 
was  fourteen  degrees  below,  next  day  between  12 
to  1  p.m.  eighty-six  degrees  above.  This  was  a 
phenomenal  year;  there  was  a  black  frost  every 
night,  and  a  lovely  blue  sky  all  day.  On  the  sixth 
night  after  the  change  had  begun,  the  thermometer 
actually  went  to  twenty-seven  degrees  below  zero, 
and  in  the  morning  was  twxnty-eight  degrees  below. 
Zambrana  said  he  could  not  stand  the  cold  nights 
even  with  good  food,  a  tot  of  rum  and  a  good  fire, 
and  would  have  to  go  home  ;  he  promised  to  return 
in  a  month.  The  three  Indians  also  said  they  had 
had  enough,  and  left  the  camp  two  days  after  Zam, 


182        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

also  promising  to  return.  I  had  already 
Manuel  to  Barber's  at  Cochabamba  for  some 
provisions,  so  I  was  now  left  quite  alone.  I  made 
it  a  point"  never  to  let  the  two  fires  go  out.  One 
night,  at  about  10.30,  I  had  turned  in  with  a  big 
log  fire  burning  outside  my  tent  door,  when  I  heard 
a  rifle  shot,  then  another  and  yet  another,  as  though 
some  one  was  firing  a  rifle,  and  the  bullets  were 
whistling  over  my  tent.  I  got  out  of  bed  and  lay 
under  the  bed  with  my  good  double-barrel  rifle 
loaded  and  my  colts  as  well.  I  counted  seven  shots, 
and  then  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  some- 
body trying  to  scare  me,  but  with  no  intention  of 
shooting  me.  So  I  got  back  to  bed  and  shouted 
out,  "  Who  is  there?  "  Two  more  shots  came  in 
quick  succession,  and  then  they  ceased.  The  next 
morning  nothing  was  to  be  seen.  That  night  the 
same  performance  took  place  from  eight  to  ten, 
but  this  time  I  did  not  bother,  being  convinced  it 
was  a  case  of  trying  to  scare  me  to  leave.  This 
was  four  days  after  my  men  had  gone. 

After  this,  I  heard  nothing  further  and  never 
found  out  who  fired  the  shots.  Two  days  after- 
wards I  was  very  pleased  to  see  four  likely  looking 
Indians  with  their  packs  come  into  the  camp  asking 
to  be  taken  on.  I  took  them  on  gladly  at  1/-  a 
day,  and  their  food,  which  was  the  price  they  asked. 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  188 

Next  day  I  left  one  in  the  camp  to  attend  to  the 
kitchen,  and  took  the  other  three  with  me.  I 
decided  not  to  disturb  the  stones  any  more,  but  to 
go  working  away  to  the  left,  leaving  the  stone  path 
as  a  starting  point. 

The  weather  continued  the  same  and  was  even 
colder  at  nights,  and  in  the  early  morning,  with 
tropical  sunshine  all  day.  I  kept  in  good  health 
and  enjoyed  it  although  it  was  rather  too  cold  at 
nights. 

One  night  two  men,  on  their  way  to  La  Paz, 
camped  down  near  the  convent,  with  five  mules 
loaded  with  coca  leaves.  During  the  night  one  of 
the  mules  strayed  away,  and,  in  the  morning,  one 
of  the  men  left  to  look  for  him.  His  companion 
remained  with  the  other  mules,  and,  while  there, 
began  to  uncover  one  of  the  numerous  tapadas  near 
the  north  bank  of  the  river.  Two  days  afterwards 
the  other  man  turned  up  with  the  lost  mule.  They 
said  that  as  the  mules  and  cargo  belonged  to  them 
they  would  stop  and  finish  uncovering  the  mound 
of  earth  and  stones,  which  they  did  in  eight  days. 
The  day  after  they  had  left,  which  was  Sunday,  I 
rode  over  on  my  mule  to  their  camp,  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  away ;  and  found  all  the  cargo  left,  and 
covered  over,  so  that  it  was  clear  they  had  been 
successful  in  their  search.     Some  weeks  9,fterwar4? 


184        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

I  heard  that  they  had  found  the  hole  full  of 
silver    plate,   which    I   understood   they    sold   for 
£1,500. 

Some  days  afterwards  Manuel  arrived  with  the 
stores,  also  Mendizabal,  who  joined  him  at  Cuti. 
He  told  me  that  when  he  heard  strange  Indians  had 
come  down  to  work  for  me  he  felt  very  uneasy,  as 
he  did  not  know  them.  His  wife  was  also  alarmed, 
and  begged  him  to  tell  me  to  be  careful  not  to  take 
anyone  who  was  not  sent  with  a  note  from  him. 
He  also  said  that  three  days  before,  one  of  the 
Indian  girls  on  his  place  had  come  and  told  his 
wife  that  they  had  heard  that  strange  Indians  had 
gone  down  there,  and  that  they  were  up  to  no  good. 
She  sent  me  a  letter  by  her  husband,  begging  me 
to  return  to  the  house  with  him.  To  my  regret, 
Mendizabal  said  that  though  he  would  have  liked 
to  have  stayed  for  a  few  days  he  did  not  dare,  for 
fear  of  ague.  I  told  him  that  the  weather  was  the 
same,  beautiful  sunshine  all  day,  and  very  cold  at 
night.  I  promised  him  to  be  careful  about  the 
Indians,  and  wrote  to  his  wife,  thanking  her  for  the 
interest  she  was  taking  in  me.  He  then  went  back 
with  Manuel,  who  was  to  leave  the  mules  and  horses 
at  Cuti  with  Mendizabal's  animals,  and  return  to 
do  the  camp  work  and  cooking. 

The  following  day  I  saw  Jose  Maria  from  the  top 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  185 

of  the  hill,  crossing  the  river,  and  at  2  p.m.  he 
turned  up  with  the  usual  weekly  sheep.  He  told 
me  Manuel  was  at  his  house  with  a  bad  attack  of 
malaria,  and  would  come  on  when  he  was  better. 

The  four  strange  Indians  had  now  been  with  me 
nearly  three  weeks  ;  they  all  worked  well,  and  there 
was  no  trouble,  and  nothing  amiss  to  my  know- 
ledge. One  morning  a  few  days  after  Mendizabal 
left,  I  went  round  as  usual,  after  I  had  got  up,  to 
the  kitchen  fire,  which  always  burned  night  and 
day,  and  was  never  allowed  to  go  out.  To  my 
surprise  I  found  nobody  there,  and  the  fire  nearly 
out.  All  their  clothes  had  gone  too !  After 
breakfast,  on  looking  round,  I  discovered  all  their 
food  of  the  night  before  in  the  bush  about  fifty 
yards  off.  About  two  hours  after  this,  I  began  to 
feel  very  queer,  and  soon  my  right  leg  went  numb, 
and  then  my  arm.  I  at  once  looked  up  the 
symptoms  in  Doctor  Andrew  Wilson's  *'  Symp- 
toms and  Treatment  of  Poisons  "  which  I  had  with 
me,  and  soon  discovered  that  I  was  poisoned.  This 
lecture  went  on  to  say,  "  When  your  finger  nails 
become  blue,  you  must  make  yourself  vomit  quickly 
for  the  time  is  short."  My  finger  nails  were  now 
turning  that  colour,  so  I  promptly  took  some  hot 
tea  with  salt,  which  fortunately  had  the  desired 
effect.     The  feeling  came  back  to  my  leg  and  arm, 


186        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

and  I  felt  all  right  again.  This  went  on  several 
times  a  day  for  eight  days,  and  then  every  three  or 
four  days  for  two  months  or  more ;  later  these 
attacks  would  only  come  on  every  fortnight  or  so, 
and  I  did  not  get  properly  well  for  a  year  or  more. 
When  I  got  to  La  Paz  in  November,  the  doctor 
said  I  had  had  enough  poison  in  me  to  kill  twenty 
men,  and  the  prompt  measure  I  took  every  time 
the  attacks  came  on  had  saved  me.  At  La  Paz 
they  gave  me  strychnine,  which  made  me  worse 
instead  of  better,  and  sometimes  I  was  very  ill.  In 
England  the  treatment  was  altered  to  arsenic,  and 
I  at  once  began  to  pick  up.  Nobody  knew  what 
the  poison  was,  but  all  were  convinced  it  was 
poison,  and  not  fever.  Next  year,  however,  I 
found  out  that  it  was  the  Aba  de  San  Ignacio, 
or  the  Saint  Ignatius  Bean,  which  is  very  much  like 
a  Lima  bean,  and  grows  on  a  vine.  On  the  way 
home  in  November  of  that  year,  I  met  a  fellow 
passenger,  who  told  me  that  three  years  before  he 
had  been  poisoned  in  exactly  the  same  way,  with 
the  same  symptoms  as  myself,  and  that  some 
Indians  who  saw  him  showed  him  the  bean,  and 
told  him  it  contained  strychnine.  I  found  later  that 
this  was  quite  correct ;  the  remedy  is  arsenic. 

The  Indians  left  the  camp  on  July  5th,  leaving 
their  last  w^tek's  pay  behind  them;  I  jaever  s?iw 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  187 

them  again.  From  the  day  they  left  until  October 
23rd,  the  start  of  the  first  rains,  nobody  came  to  the 
camp,  for  I  had  told  old  Jose  Maria  not  to  bring 
down  any  more  sheep  until  I  advised  him  by 
messenger,  as  I  had  nearly  a  whole  bullock  hanging 
up  both  fresh  and  dried.  During  these  weeks,  I 
generally  pottered  round  the  camp,  and  now  and 
then  went  up  the  hill  for  a  change,  when  the  poison 
fits  would  allow  me.  I  shot  several  doves,  which 
were  very  tame  in  the  mornings  before  the  sun 
melted  the  frost.  The  temperature  twice  touched 
forty  degrees  below  zero,  and  the  average  from  the 
beginning  of  June  to  the  middle  of  September  was 
twenty-two  degrees  below  zero  at  7  a.m.,  and 
eighty  degrees  above  at  1  p.m. 

One  morning  soon  after  daylight,  a  fine-looking 
mule  came  and  stood  outside  my  tent,  I  put  a  rope 
halter  on  him,  and  tied  him  up  to  a  tree,  and  a  few 
hours  after,  the  owner  came  up  on  another  mule 
with  two  Indians.  He  thanked  me  profusely  for 
catching  his  mule,  but  asked  me  how  I  managed 
to  put  the  halter  on.  I  told  him  it  had  been  quite 
easy,  as  I  had  found  him  standing  outside  the  tent 
early  in  the  morning.  He  then  told  me  that  the 
mule  had  never  yet  been  handled,  and  was  one  of 
a  hundred  mules  and  horses  he  had  bought  for  his 
farm,  at  the  yearly  sale  of  animals,  held  on  the 

14 


188        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

shores  of  Lake  Titieaca.     This  mule  and  anoth 
one  had  strayed  away  from  his  camp  three  days  ag 
and  he  said  he  was  sure  the  other  one  had  bee; 
killed  by  a  jaguar,  and  this  one,  seeing  my  cam 
came  and  stayed  for  protection.       After  taking 
some  refreshment,  he  and  his  men  left  the  mule  I 
had  caught  with  me,  and  followed  up  its  spoor  to 
look  for  the  other.     Next  daj^  about  2  p.m.  they 
returned,  having  found  the  second  mule  killed,  and 
partly  eaten,  in  the  forest  to  the  north  of  the  River 
Sacambaja.     Two  nights  after  this  occurrence,   I 
was  awakened  in  the  night  by  a  stampede  of  cattle 
in  the  forest,  the  other  side  of  the  stream,  where  my 
drinking  water  came  from.     In   the   morning   I 
counted  twenty  head  of  cattle  on  the  beach,  the 
other  side  of  the  Cato  River,  which  showed  tha 
jaguars  or  pumas  had  come  up  from  the  fore 
below.     The  following  day  I  was  gathering  wood 
near  the  camp,  and  just  as  I  got  to  the  tent  I 
looked  up,  and  saw  a  magnificent  black  panther, 
or  puma,  walking  slowly  along  the  beach  on  t 
south  side  of  the  river  Sacambaja.     I  rushed  int 
the  tent  and  got  my  rifle,  and  just  managed  to  fi 
a  hurried  shot  at  the  beast  as  he  was  entering  tb 
forest.     I  put  the  sight  at  three  hundred  yards,  am 
missed  him  ;  the  bullets  seemed  to  strike  the  groun 
some  few  yards  behind.     I  was  sorry,  for  he  w 


'k 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  189 

rather  a  rare  specimen  of  the  black  panther, 
I  think.  He  was  too  big  for  a  puma.  I 
examined  the  beech  for  signs  and  saw  the 
spoor  of  three  or  four  jaguars  or  pumas,  and 
came  across  a  big  fat  cow  which  they  had 
killed  near  the  forest,  close  to  my  fresh- water  stream 
on  the  other  side.  As  it  was  just  then  clear  moon- 
light every  night,  I  sat  up  and  watched  on  this  side 
of  the  stream,  just  opposite  the  cow,  for  five  nights. 
The  only  thing  I  saw  was  a  big  brown  fox,  with  a 
splendid  brush,  which,  one  night  after  I  had  been 
waiting  for  an  hour,  appeared,  stopped,  looked  at 
me  for  a  minute  and  trotted  off.  He  was  certainly 
the  biggest  fox  I  had  ever  seen,  and  could  easily 
have  been  shot,  but  I  let  him  go  for  two  reasons  : 
first,  because  I  was  waiting  for  larger  game,  and 
second,  because  no  one  who  had  ridden  with  the 
Duke's  pack  would  have  thought  of  doing  such  a 
thing.  After  five  days,  the  cattle  left  the  beach, 
and  returned  to  their  feeding  ground,  which  showed 
that  the  jaguars  and  pumas  had  gone  too.  I  was 
now  more  careful  about  my  two  big  fires,  which 
were  kept  going  night  and  day,  one  in  front  of  my 
tent  door,  and  the  other  near  the  kitchen;  they 
served  two  purposes,  to  frighten  off  any  wild 
animals,  and  to  keep  the  camp  cheery  and  warm  at 
nights.     One  morning  after  breakfast,   I  was  on 


I 


190        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

the  edge  of  the  cUff ,  half-way  up  the  Treasure  Hi 
taking  a  look  at  the  surrounding  country,  to  s 
if  anyone  was  coming  my  way,  when  I  saw 
Indian  come  out  of  the  forest  on  the  south  side 
the  River  Sacambaja,  walk  along  the  beach,  an 
cross  the  river  to  my  side.  Thinking  he  had  com^ 
from  Mendizabal  with  a  message  for  me,  I  did  not 
hurry  back,  but  walked  slowly  down.  When  I  got 
to  the  stream,  I  saw  the  Indian  calmly  walking  off 
with  a  big  load  of  my  charque  (dried  beef)  on  his 
back.  I  shouted  to  him,  but  he  took  no  notic^j 
and  hurried  on  faster  across  the  first  arm  of  the 
river ;  so  I  took  my  rifle  from  the  tent,  and  fired 
two  shots  at  him.  I  did  not  want  to  kill  him,  and 
deliberately  fired  a  few  yards  wide  of  the  mark, 
which  answered  the  purpose.  He  dropped  t 
charque  and  a  good  long  llama  wool  rope  as  w^e 
and  when  I  fired  two  more  shots  for  luck  he  ran  as 
hard  as  he  could  along  the  beach,  and  disappeared 
into  the  forest  at  the  other  side,  while  I  carried  back 
my  beef  and  his  rope. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  September,  and  the 
nights  and  early  mornings  began  to  get  warmer, 
but  the  thermometer  still  registered  seven  degrees 
or  four  degrees  below  zero.  The  first  week  in  Octo- 
ber the  cold  spell  ceased,  and  the  nights  became 
more  pleasant,  and  one  could  sleep  comfortably  with 


■^ 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  191 

three  blankets  on  instead  of  six.  The  nights  con- 
tinued to  get  warmer,  but  not  too  warm,  and  the 
mosquitoes  now  began  to  appear,  of  all  varieties, 
spotted  ones  and  big  black  ones.  I  hung  up  my 
big  net  on  the  hooks  in  the  centre  of  the  tent,  and 
the  larger  net  as  well  on  the  inner  side  of  the  tent 
to  cover  table,  bed  and  other  things,  and  they  did 
not  disturb  me. 

On  October  23rd,  Mendizabal,  his  son  and  several 
attendants  arrived  at  the  camp.  He  told  me  Zam- 
brana  had  died  a  few  weeks  after  he  left  here,  also 
the  assistant  cargo  man,  and  that  one  of  the  other 
men  was  so  bad  with  fever  that  when  he  felt 
better  he  started  back  to  Cochabamba,  and  had 
taken  six  weeks  to  get  there.  As  soon  as 
Mendizabal  heard  about  the  four  Indians,  and  the 
poisoning,  he  told  his  son  to  return  to  Cuti,  take 
six  of  the  native  police  with  him  to  the  village 
where  these  men  had  said  their  home  was,  and 
bring  them  down  here.  He  told  me  he  was  sorry 
I  had  let  off  the  Indian  thief,  but  said  it  would  do 
him  a  lot  of  good,  as  he  would  probably  think  he 
had  been  lucky  to  get  away.  I  had  not  been 
troubled  with  the  poison  symptoms  for  some  weeks, 
but  the  day  after  Mendizabal  arrived  I  had  another 
attack  which  was,  however,  not  nearly  so  bad  as  the 
others  had  been,  and  only  lasted  a  day  and  a  half. 


192        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Three  days  after  he  had  left,  his  son  came  bac| 
with  the  news  that  he  had  found  the  huts  where 
the  men  Hved,  but  they  were  not  there,  and  had 
not  been  to  their  homes  for  over  four  months.     The 
head  man  of  the  village  had  been  told  to  have  thei 
arrested   and  brought  to  Cuti,   when  they   wei 
found. 

I  told  Mendizabal  that  the  best  way,   in  mj 
opinion,  to  imcover  this  big  tapada  -was  to  woi 
systematically,  and  uncover  the  whole  of  the  sid< 
I  was  now  working  on,  up  to  the  end  of  the  rool 
as  indicated  by  the  formation ;  it  would  take  siil 
months   and   require   twenty-five   workmen.     H^ 
kindly  arranged  to  provide  me  with  twenty-five  of 
his  own  good  Indians  for  the  next  season,  I  to  find 
wild  cattle  meat,  and  he  the  rest  of  their  food.     I 
was  to  pay  them  6/-  every  Saturday  night,  and 
whenever  one  wanted  to  return  to  his  home  he  was 
to  do  so  at  the  end  of  the  week,  and  another  would 
be  sent  to  replace  him.     If  we  succeeded  in  findinj 
the  treasure,  it  was  agreed  that  I  should,  at  my  o^ 
expense,  go  to  Arabia,  buy  him  the  finest  Aral 
stallion  that  money  could  procure,  bring  him  ov( 
myself,  and  deliver  him  to  Mendizabal  at  Cuti. 
we  did  not  succeed  next  dry  season,  he  said  he  wj 
willing  to  go  on  every  year  till  we  gave  it  up  or 
found  the  treasure.       We   started   for   Cuti  on 


THE  SECOND  ATTEMPT  193 

November  1st,  just  as  the  wet  season  showed  signs 
of  coming  on,  leaving  Manuel  and  one  of  Mendiz- 
abaPs  men  as  caretakers.  I  left  Cuti  two  days 
after  getting  there,  and  went  home,  intending  to 
return  and  begin  the  work  again  next  April  on  the 
terms  agreed  upon.  On  the  way  I  met  a  coloured 
man  on  the  shore  at  Guayaquil,  who  was  hawking 
round  a  queer-looking  animal  about  two  feet  high, 
or  rather  longer,  with  a  tail  some  eighteen  inches 
long,  and  paws  like  a  bear.  It  was  stuffed  with  long 
grass,  and  cost  me  10/-,  turning  out  eventually  to 
be  a  bear  with  a  tail.  In  his  book  on  wild  animals, 
Rowland  Ward  says,  "  Amongst  the  rarest  of 
animals  is  a  bear  with  a  tail ;  this  animal  is  known  to 
exist,  is  very  rare,  and  only  to  be  found  in  the 
forests  of  Equador,"  and  this  was  where  the  man 
who  sold  it  to  me  said  he  got  it.  When  I  told 
Mendizabal,  he  said  there  were  several  in  the  forest 
near  where  we  were  working  at  Sacambaja. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT 

EARLY  in  April  1907,  when  I  had  re- 
covered from  the  poison,  I  returned  to 
Oruro,  getting  there  in  time  for  the 
great  Indian  Market  at  Juare.  I 
bought  five  fresh  cargo  mules  at  the  market,  and 
engaged  a  man,  his  son,  wife  and  daughter  to  cook 
for  me  and  look  after  the  camp  as  far  as  Cocha- 
bamba.  The  women  rode  on  two  donkeys.  At 
Cochabamba  I  discharged  them,  and  picked  up 
Manuel's  son  and  another  man  to  look  after  the 
mules  and  horse,  and  his  daughter  to  cook  and  look 
after  the  camp  on  the  way,  and  arrived  at 
Mendizabal's  place  at  Cuti  on  May  4th. 

Mendizabal  had  bad  news,  old  Jose  Maria 
Ampuera  was  dead.  He  had  gone  down  one  day 
with  a  sheep  for  the  two  caretakers  at  Sacambaja, 
who  signalled  to  him  not  to  cross  the  river,  as  it 

was  too  high.     He  insisted,  and  in  mid-stream  his 

194 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  195 

horse  lost  its  footing,  and  was  taken  off  its  legs  by 
the  current,  but  managed  to  get  ashore  with  the 
old  man  on  his  side  of  the  river.     He  rode  back 
to  his  home,  got  fever  that  night  and  died  of  the 
effects  a  few  days  after.     He  was  110  years  old, 
according  to  his  own  reckoning,  but  Mendizabal 
said  he  was  probably  older.     He  was  a  little  deaf, 
but,  otherwise,  had  all  his  faculties  about  him; 
all  his  teeth  were  in  good  order,  and  he  had  never 
been  to  a  dentist  in  his  life ;  he  could  eat  ship's 
biscuits  without  soaking  them,  and  take  a  tot  of 
rum  without  showing  it.     He  used  often  to  ride 
down  from  Cuti  with  a  sheep  for  me,  and  go  down 
the  river  next  day  another  nine  leagues  to  get 
bananas,  oranges,  pines  and  other  things.     But  for 
this  accident  he  would  probably  have  lived  some 
years  longer. 

Mendizabal's  Indians  now  begged  him  not  to  ask 
them  to  go  down  and  work  at  the  Caballo  Cunco 
Hill.  They  said  it  was  so  unhealthy  that  many 
would  die,  and  if  they  were  to  die  they  preferred 
to  die  in  their  own  homes.  Three  of  the  eight  men 
that  had  worked  there  last  year  had  died,  and  the 
dead  nigger  hill  was  exactly  opposite.  They  told 
him  they  would  go  anywhere  else  for  him,  or  his 
English  friend,  but  implored  him  not  to  ask  them 
to  work  down  there.     However,  I  went  down  with 


196        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Manuel  and  his  family  and  all  the  gear,  and  Manuel 
and  I  went  up  the  hill  and  worked  alone  most  days, 
while  his  wife  and  daughter  attended  to  the  camp, 
and  the  boys  stayed  with  the  mules.  The  weather 
was  perfect,  eighty-two  degrees  at  1  p.m.,  and 
seventy  degrees  at  8  p.m.,  and  I  sent  Manuel  up 
to  tell  Mendizabal,  who  soon  came  down  with  the 
priest  and  his  two  head  men.  They  stayed  a  week 
cattle  hunting,  and  tried  their  best  to  convince  the 
Indians  that  last  year  was  a  phenomenal  year,  and 
probably  we  should  not  have  one  like  it  for  a  long 
time ;  but  it  was  no  use,  they  could  not  be 
persuaded.  Mendizabal  then  decided  to  send  a 
letter  to  his  friend  Solis  at  Palca,  who  owned  a  big 
estancia,  some  leagues  from  there  with  over  a  hun- 
dred families  of  colonias.  In  the  meantime,  there 
was  nothing  to  do,  but  wait. 

I  often  tried  to  find  one  of  those  bears  with  a  tail 
that  Mendizabal  said  existed  here.  Several  times 
I  saw  the  track  of  what  he  said  were  tree  bear,  but 
I  never  even  saw  one. 

On  4th  June  Mendizabal  sent  me  down  a  note, 
saying  there  were  jaguars  (or  tigers  as  he  called 
them)  about  again ;  that  the  night  before  they  had 
killed  three  mules  and  a  colt,  four  miles  further 
down  the  river  from  where  I  was,  and  that  they 
had  laid  down  poison. 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  197 

Three  days  later  he  wrote  again  that  the  poison 
was  no  good ;  they  never  touched  the  carcasses 
again,  but  killed  another  of  his  mules  and  four  of 
the  Indians'  llamas.  He  said  he  had  laid  down 
more  poison. 

Next  day  came  another  note  saying  that  they 
never  touched  the  poison,  but  had  gone  further  up 
my  way,  that  there  were  several,  and  the  tracks 
showed  big  footprints,  and  smaller  ones  which 
looked  Hke  two  lots.  He  promised  to  come  up 
next  week  and  get  up  a  hunt. 

A  few  days  later  the  cattle  came  out  of  the  forest, 
and  remained  about  the  beach,  showing  that 
jaguars  or  pumas  were  disturbing  them,  and  soon 
an  Indian  came  from  down  the  river,  and  told  me 
that  if  I  came  with  him  for  a  mile  or  so  along  the 
beach  he  would  show  me  the  track  of  several 
pumas.  I  went  along,  and  he  pointed  them  out, 
but  I  told  him  I  thought  the  pads  looked  too  big 
for  the  pumas,  and  were  more  like  jaguars,  the 
larger  ones  anyway.  That  evening  about  nine 
o'clock,  we  heard  animals  moving  in  the  bush,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  stream.  Manuel  looked  care- 
fully out,  and  saw  what  he  thought  was  a  big  jaguar 
gazing  over  at  the  fires ;  he  pointed  it  out  to  me, 
and  soon  after  it  moved  off.  I  got  the  rifle  and  sat 
near  the  kitchen  fire,  but  I  did  not  see  anything 


198        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

again.  In  the  morning  we  found  several  tracks  on 
the  edge  of  the  forest  on  the  beach,  only  thirty 
yards  from  the  fires.  They  were  spoor  of  jaguars 
right  enough,  there  had  been  at  least  two  of  them. 
In  the  morning  the  cattle  were  still  on  the  beach, 
showing  that  jaguars  were  still  about,  and  in  the 
afternoon  Mendizabal,  his  son,  and  ten  of  his  men 
arrived  with  several  dogs,  and  pitched  his  tent  near 
mine.  He  had  poisoned  the  dead  animals,  but  the 
jaguars  had  left  them  entirely  alone,  whether  by 
instinct,  or  because  they  were  not  hungry,  I  do  not 
know.  That  night  at  about  10,  when  we  were 
just  thinking  of  turning  in,  and  were  sitting  with 
our  rifles  by  the  fire  watching  the  edge  of  the  forest, 
on  chance  of  anything  appearing,  a  big  fellow 
showed  himself  about  seventy  yards  off.  We  could 
make  out  the  form,  but  not  the  colour  as,  although 
the  night  was  clear  and  the  moon  bright,  he  was  in 
the  shadow  on  the  outside  of  the  forest.  I  had  a 
shot  at  the  body  of  the  beast,  and  he  turned  round 
sharply,  and  entered  the  bush  again.  We  both 
thought  he  was  hit  with  the  ounce  ball,  and  in  the 
morning  we  found  marks  of  blood  in  his  track. 
Quite  near  the  place  where  we  saw  the  jaguar,  we 
came  across  the  dead  body  of  a  big  black  cow,  which 
had  been  killed  and  partly  eaten  by  the  beasts. 
We  cut  her  up,  and  appropriated  all  the  meat, 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  199 

deciding  that  it  was  of  no  use  to  poison  it,  as 
experience  had  shown  that  the  jaguars  would  not 
return  to  poisoned  meat.  The  Indians  then 
followed  up  the  spoor  of  the  wounded  jaguar,  and 
we  told  them  to  be  careful,  and  return  if  they  saw 
that  he  had  gone  into  the  thick  of  the  forest. 
They  came  back  and  said  that  he  had  gone  into  the 
forest,  and  must  have  been  badly  hit.  In  the  after- 
noon the  Indians  and  the  dogs  went  along  a  path 
at  the  edge  of  the  forest,  which  the  wounded  animal 
had  made  for  last  night,  while  Mendizabal  and  I 
waited  about  a  mile  further  down  in  an  open  spot, 
the  other  side  of  an  arm  of  the  Sacambaja.  Noth- 
ing came  out  and  soon  the  jaguar  was  found  dead 
by  the  Indians.  It  was  a  well  marked  male,  in  very 
good  condition,  and  measured  7ft.  llins.  when 
skinned.  A  week  afterwards  the  Indians  found 
another  jaguar,  a  female,  that  had  been  shot  by 
some  one  else,  and  brought  me  the  skin.  It  was 
smaller  than  the  other,  but  a  better  colour,  and 
measured  7ft.  7ins.  I  have  still  got  both  of  these 
skins.     Next  day  Mendizabal  and  his  men  left. 

Three  days  after  our  big  jaguar  hunt  and  two 
days  after  Mendizabal  and  his  men  had  left,  an 
Indian  came  to  the  camp  early  in  the  afternoon  to 
tell  me  he  had  seen  what  he  called  a  black  tiger. 
He  said  that  the  beast  was  well  known  to  the 


200        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Indians  for  leagues  round ;  it  was  very  savage  and 
as  large  as  a  big  donkey,  and  killed  cattle  and  mules 
frequently.  They  were  afraid  it  would  take  to 
killing  people.  I  thought  the  size  was  exaggerated, 
and  in  fact  I  took  it  to  be  an  unusually  large  black 
puma.  As  the  native  told  me  he  had  seen  it  cross 
the  path  in  the  forest  about  two  leagues  from  the 
river  on  the  other  side  and  nearly  opposite  my 
camp,  I  hoped  to  be  lucky  enough  to  get  a  shot  at 
it,  so  I  crossed  the  river  on  my  good  little  white 
mule,  and  walked  about  or  sat  on  logs  of  wood  on 
the  banks.  About  6  p.m.  I  was  rewarded  by  seeing 
the  beast.  He  crossed  the  path  in  the  forest, 
walking  slowly  about  two  hundred  yards  up  the 
hill.  I  took  my  father's  good  double  barrel  sixteen 
bore  rifle  by  Holland  and  Holland,  put  the  sight  at 
three  hundred  yards,  fired,  and  missed  him ;  the 
bullet  appeared  to  strike  the  ground  just  about  a 
yard  or  two  exactly  below  him.  The  Indian  had  not 
exaggerated ;  he  was  no  black  puma,  he  was  a  black 
jaguar  and  seemed  to  be  as  large  as  the  one  I  got 
on  the  banks  of  the  Challana  River,  which  was  9ft. 
2ins.  long.  He  was  black  and  looked  in  splendid 
condition,  and  I  thought  what  a  pity  it  was  that 
Mendizabal  and  his  son  Juan  were  not  with  me, 
as  if  we  had  all  of  us  taken  a  shot  at  him  one  bullet 
would  have  hit  him.     Anyhow,  I  am  sorry  to  say 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  201 

I  was  duffer  enough  to  miss  this  beautiful  and  rare 
specimen  and  never  had  the  luck  to  see  him  again. 
The  next  morning  after  my  bathe  in  the  river,  I 
took  my  gun  with  me  and  strolled  along  a  small 
stream  that  runs  into  the  big  river,  to  have  some 
pot  shots  at  the  parrots  as  they  settled  on  a  big 
wild  cotton  tree.  This  tree  was  a  very  favourite 
one  for  birds  of  all  sorts  to  alight  on,  and  nearly 
every  morning  and  evening  you  could  be  pretty 
sure  to  get  either  parrots  or  bush  chickens  for  a 
savoury  stew.  Before  I  got  to  the  big  cotton  tree, 
I  saw  a  young  bull  calf  standing  in  the  stream, 
about  a  year  and  four  or  five  months  old  I  should 
say,  fat,  and  in  nice  condition.  He  was  standing 
on  three  legs  and  easing  his  near  fore.  On  closer 
examination  I  found  that  he  had  been  wounded  in 
that  limb,  so  I  thought  to  myself  somebody  has 
been  after  the  wild  cattle,  never  thinking  for  a 
moment  it  could  have  any  connection  with  our  late 
cattle  hunt.  I  returned  at  once  to  the  camp  and 
brought  Manuel  with  a  lasso,  which  we  threw  over 
his  neck.  With  the  help  of  four  Indians  we 
dragged  the  calf  ashore  and  after  killing  and 
skinning  we  found  that  one  of  my  bullets  had 
penetrated  the  flesh,  injured  the  bone,  and  lodged 
in  his  leg.  The  only  way  I  can  account  for  it  is 
this.     When  we  were  shooting  wild  cattle  five  days 


202        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

before,  one  of  the  three  that  fell  to  my  rifle  was  a 
big  fat  cow,  I  aimed  behind  the  left  shoulder  and 
hit  her  just  above  the  root  of  the  tail,  breaking  the 
bone.     We  went  up  and  killed  the  cow  with  a  shot 
in  the  head  behind  the  ear.     There  were  seven  or 
eight  head  of  cattle  stampeding  in  a  body  quite 
close  to  us,  and  as  they  passed  I  aimed  at  the  big 
cow  with  the  result  described,  and  the  bullet  must 
have   glanced    off  the   cow,    and    lodged    in    the 
shoulder  of  the  year  and  half  old  calf.       So  I  had 
killed  two  head  of  wild  cattle  with  one  shot,  which 
does  not  occur  very  often,  I  should  say.     The  wild 
cattle  live  all  through  the  forest  round  hereabouts ; 
you  can  see  their  fresh  dung  in  different  Indian 
paths  every  now  and  again.     There  is  very  little 
grass  about  and  yet  the  cattle  are  all  in  good  fat 
condition ;  the  natives  say  they  eat  leaves  from  the 
various  trees  and  guavas.     My  mules  got  very  thin 
on  being  turned  into  the  forest  to  cater  for  them- 
selves, and  the  only  thing  they  seemed  to  go  for 
was  the  wild  guava.       When  I  found  they  were 
losing  condition  I  sent  Manuel's  son  Jose  up  the 
mountains  on  part  of  MendizabaPs  estate  to  cure 
the  mules  and  graze  them,  leaving  only  my  white 
saddle  mule  and  one  of  the  donkeys  in  camp,  with 
plenty  of  barley  in  bundles  for  them.       Another 
reason  for  sending  them  up  the  mountain  was  that 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  208 

the  dun  coloured  mule  had  been  bitten  by  a  vampire 
bat  three  weeks  before.  I  healed  it  up  and  washed 
it  every  day,  morning  and  night,  with  lysol  and 
water  and  plugged  it  up  with  a  little  cotton  wool 
dipped  in  balsam,  sprinkling  the  withers  over  with 
a  powder  of  iodoform  and  zinc  mixed,  to  keep  off 
the  loathsome  Verni  fly. 

One  day  while  walking  up  the  long  steep  path 
to  work,  I  was  stung  on  the  back  of  the  neck  by  a 
big  black  ant,  called  tucanderos.  The  sting  was 
very  painful,  and  swelled  up  as  big  as  a  walnut, 
but  I  cured  myself  by  hot  fomentations,  and  the 
application  of  young  castor  oil  leaves,  which  grew 
everywhere  about.  The  ants  measure  an  inch  or 
more ;  the  males  are  black,  and  the  females  brown ; 
they  are  fortunately  not  common. 

On  one  part  of  the  Treasure  Hill  just  where  the 
big  egg-shaped  stone  blasted  out,  there  were  also 
dozens  of  big  scorpions,  of  which  I  preserved  a  few. 
No  one  was  stung  by  them.  A  few  days  after 
Mendizabal  left,  one  of  his  mountain  Indians,  who 
came  down  with  a  sheep,  eggs,  butter  and  other 
provisions,  told  me  that  there  was  a  Condor  Real 
(King  of  the  Condors)  which  lived  up  the  mountains 
near  his  shepherd's  hut. 

He  said  there  were  several  common  condors  with 
the  Condor  Real,  which  was  much  bigger  than  any 

^5 


204        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

condor  he  had  ever  seen  before.  This  man  had 
lived  all  his  life  in  the  high  Andes,  and  was,  there- 
fore, competent  to  judge. 

It  will  be  interesting  here  to  quote  what  Baron 
von  Humboldt  says  about  these  birds  in  his  book 
"  Earth  and  Sea  "  : 

"  The  condors  of  the  Cordilleras  are  the  biggest 
birds  that  fly.  They  are  black  with  a  white  collar ; 
the  females  are  just  as  large,  but  are  a  coffee  colour 
brown  and  have  no  collar.  They  live  at  a  height 
of  fourteen  to  sixteen  thousand  feet  and  measure 
anything  from  tip  to  tip  from  7ft.  to  14  ft.  The 
Condor  Real  or  King  of  the  Condors  is  a  pure  white 
bird,  and  measures  as  much  as  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  feet  from  tip  to  tip.  In  the  whole  range  of 
the  Andes,  I  do  not  think  twenty-five  exist." 

I  arranged  to  go  to  the  home  of  the  Indian  the 
following  week,  and  he  agreed  to  sell  me  a  llama 
for  28/-,  which  we  would  kill  and  leave  near  the 
place  where  he  had  seen  the  big  bird,  and  then  I 
would  try  to  get  him  with  a  rifle.  I  gave  him  a  note 
to  Mendizabal,  telling  him  about  it,  and  asking 
whether  I  might  go  to  his  shepherd's  hut  in  eight 
days.  He  readily  gave  me  permission,  and  very 
kindly  sent  down  his  favourite  Arab  grey  to  bring 
me  up  to  his  place,  so  that  my  saddle  mule  could 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  205 

be  kept  for  the  mountain  climb.  He  also  said  he 
would  come  with  me  both  for  the  sport,  and  also 
to  see  his  sheep  feeding  in  the  mountains. 

Six  days  later  I  left  on  Mendizabal's  horse,  start- 
ing after  breakfast  at  7  a.m.  It  was  nine  leagues 
to  Cuti,  and  all  uphill.  At  about  7  p.m.,  when  it 
was  just  dark,  and  the  stars  were  out,  but  not  the 
moon,  I  got  off  my  horse  to  walk  down  a  few  yards 
for  a  drink  of  water,  and  not  taking  sufficient  care 
and  notice  of  the  path  I  stepped  over  the  side,  and 
slid  right  down  the  steep  bank,  dragging  the  horse 
with  me,  till  I  fell  up  against  a  big  rock  with  the 
horse  against  me.  I  helped  him  to  slue  round,  and 
scramble  up  again,  and,  by  hanging  on  to  his  tail, 
I  got  dragged  up  again.  I  found  that  I  had  hurt 
my  back  and  side  so  much  that  I  could  not  mount, 
and  I  had  to  sit  there  in  my  white  tropical  clothes, 
with  my  big  poncho  over  me,  for  the  whole  night. 
In  the  morning,  at  daylight,  an  Indian  came  along, 
and,  with  his  help,  I  mounted  and  rode  the  three 
miles  down  to  Mendizabal's  place.  This  piece  of 
stupidity  kept  me  on  my  back  for  four  weeks,  and 
the  worst  of  it  was  that  I  had  to  give  up  the 
Condor  Real,  and  it  was  six  months  before  I  could 
do  without  plaster  or  bandage.  Three  weeks 
previously  a  man  fell  over  this  same  spot,  and  wheu 
picked  up  dead  his  body  was  in  a  pulp. 


206        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

While  I  am  on  the  subject  of  the  Condor  Real  I 
will  relate  what  I  was  told  by  C.  Franc,  whom  I 
met  with  his  wife  and  sister  at  Jura.  His  father 
who  was  a  very  good  shot,  and  extremely  fond  of 
sport  in  the  Andes,  heard  from  the  mountain 
Indians  that  there  was  a  big  white  bird  far  larger 
than  any  condor  living  in  the  mountains,  at  the 
back  of  Inquisivi  near  some  old  abandoned  mines. 
There  were  several  white-necked  condors  guarding 
the  King  of  the  Condors,  and  bringing  him  food. 
No  house  was  near  and  nobody  was  working  there. 
The  father,  who  had  a  fine  collection  of  birds  in  his 
house  in  Italy,  knew  at  once  that  this  bird  was  a 
specimen  of  the  Condor  Real.  He  got  two  of  the 
men  to  accompany  him  and  his  mule  men,  and 
started  off  with  provisions  for  a  fortnight.  They 
camped  near  some  of  the  abandoned  mines,  killed 
two  llamas  they  had  brought  for  the  purpose,  and 
abandoned  the  carcasses  about  half  a  mile  from  his 
camp.  The  next  day  the  white-necked  condors 
began  to  fly  down  and  circle  round  the  dead  llamas. 
His  father  and  the  men  remained  watching,  quietly, 
in  the  camp,  and  on  the  third  day  the  big  white 
bird  was  seen  feasting  on  one  of  the  dead  llamas, 
with  some  of  the  other  condors  sitting  at  a  distance, 
and  others  hovering  overhead.  He  started,  very 
carefully,  to  stalk  the  white  bird,  so  as  to  get  a  sure 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  207 

shot,  but,  when  he  got  a  Httle  less  than  three  hun- 
dred yards  away,  the  big  bird  looked  as  though  it 
were  disturbed,  and  fearing  he  might  miss  his 
chance  he  fired,  sighting  the  Winchester  at  three 
hundred  yards,  and  was  lucky  enough  to  kill  the 
bird  stone  dead.  But  as  soon  as  the  other  birds 
saw  what  had  happened  to  their  King  they  began 
to  circle  round  over  him,  making  angry  noises  and 
flapping  their  wings,  so  fiercely  that,  though  he 
saw  the  big  white  bird  lying  still,  he  was  afraid  to 
go  nearer,  and  thought  it  prudent  to  return  to  the 
shelter  of  his  camp  in  the  mines.  The  condors 
came  flying  round  his  camp,  flapping  their  wings 
angrily  against  the  entrance  of  the  mines.  All  that 
afternoon  and  the  whole  of  the  next  day,  the 
condors  kept  flying  about  the  mine  close  to  the 
entrance,  flapping  their  wings  and  shrieking.  On 
the  third  day  everything  seemed  quiet,  and  they 
ventured  out  again,  only  to  find  that  all  the  white- 
necked  condors  had  gone,  and  the  big  white  bird 
had  disappeared  too.  He  said  there  was  no  doubt 
that  the  condors  had  carried  away  their  King. 
This  was  in  July,  1903,  and  the  next  year  he  made 
a  special  trip  out  from  home  to  try  and  locate  the 
bird  again,  but  was  unsuccessful.  A  Condor  Real 
is  worth  a  good  sum,  I  should  say  about  £500  or 
more.     Before  closing  with  the  Jesuits  and  their 


208        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

mines  and  treasure,  I  will  relate  three  instances  of 
discovered  treasure  that  came  to  my  knowledge. 
All  three  finders  were  personally  very  well  known 
to  me.  The  first  concerned  a  very  rich  gold  mine 
in  Peru,  which  we  will  call  the  Monte  Cristo  mine, 
formerly  worked  by  Jesuits,  and  abandoned  by 
them  when  they  were  expelled  from  Peru.  A 
captain  formerly  belonging  to  an  English  cavalry 
regiment  was  staying  at  San  Francisco  a  few  years 
ago,  and  made  friends  there  with  a  Jesuit  Father, 
who  told  him  he  had  all  the  papers  relating  to  the 
rich  Monte  Cristo  mine,  with  all  directions  where 
to  go  and  how  to  find  it.  He  said  he  would  hand 
the  captain  the  papers  if  he  liked,  and  should  he 
succeed  in  locating  the  mine  he  could  denounce 
it  and  give  the  priest  ten  per  cent  of  the  proceeds. 
The  captain  gladly  accepted  on  these  terms,  and 
eventually  found  the  mine  and  denounced  it. 

I  must  explain  here  that  there  are  strict  rules 
laid  down  by  all  the  republics  of  South  America  and 
British  Guiana,  which  have  existed  for  hundreds  of 
years,  and  which  are  called  the  old  Spanish  Laws 
of  Mines.  These  rules  are  meant  to  prevent 
mining  concessions  lying  idle,  and  once  ground  is 
applied  for,  and  old  mines  or  new  ones  denounced, 
when  the  concession  is  granted  the  mines  have  to 
be  worked  and  must  not  remain  idle.     Often  the 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  209 

owner,  who  either  cannot  afford  to  work  the  ground 
or  else  has  no  intention  of  doing  so,  simply  pays  up 
the  annual  rent  to  the  Government  of  the  country, 
which  is  not  a  very  costly  thing  to  do,  and  then 
calmly  waits  for  some  big  Company  to  come  along 
and  give  him  a  good  lump  sum  for  doing  practically 
nothing.  This  happens  occasionally,  but  not  very 
often,  as  Company  owners  know  the  mining  laws, 
and  most  of  them  are  not  in  the  habit  of  throwing 
money  away  for  nothing. 

Here  are  some  of  these  rules  : 

(1)  After  a  discoverer  has  denounced  a  mining 
property  and  asked  for  the  concession,  a  notice  shall 
appear  for  fifteen  days  in  any  newspaper  of  the 
district.  Should  no  opposition  be  made  at  the  end 
of  that  time  the  concession  shall  be  granted. 

(2)  Forty-two  days  after  the  concession  has  been 
granted  a  stone  monument  at  least  three  feet  high, 
with  four  corner  stones,  must  be  erected,  and  then 
possession  will  be  given. 

(3)  Forty-two  days  after  possession  has  been 
given  work  must  be  started,  two  men  to  be 
employed  to  each  hectare  applied  for. 

(4)  If  the  discoverer  does  not  comply  with  these 
conditions  the  mine  may  be  re-denounced  by  any- 


210        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

body,  and  the  original  discoverer  loses  all  right  to 
the  ground. 

(5)  Anyone  re-denouncing  the  claim  must,  after 
notifying  the  Minister  of  Mines  or  his  agent,  put 
an  advertisement  in  any  paper  published  and  sold 
in  the  district,  calling  on  the  original  owner  to 
comply  with  the  law  within  fifteen  days,  and  also 
paste  up  a  copy  in  the  District  Court  House.  If 
he  does  this,  and  the  owner  of  the  claim  does  not 
comply  with  the  law  and  gives  no  satisfactory  reason 
for  his  delay  to  work  his  mine  according  to  law 
within  the  said  time  of  fifteen  days,  he  loses  all 
right,  and  the  mine  is  then  transferred  to  the  re- 
denouncer. 

Two  years  after  the  captain  had  denounced  the 
rich  old  Jesuit  mine,  Monte  Cristo,  he  returned 
ready  to  start  work  and  re-develop  the  property, 
but  on  arriving  there  he  was  disagreeably  surprised 
to  find  work  going  on  in  full  swing.  He  was  told 
by  the  manager  that  his  discovery  had  been  re- 
denounced  by  Don  Fulano  six  months  after  he  left, 
under  the  Mining  Laws  No.  3  and  No.  4  quoted 
above,  and  as  neither  he  nor  his  authorized  repre- 
sentative had  answered  the  notice  as  per  Rule  No, 
5  quoted,  after  fifteen  days  it  was  made  over  to  him, 
and  he  worked  it  with  a  considerable  number  of 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  211 

men  for  eight  months,  and  then  sold  it  to  a  com- 
pany for  £72,000.  The  manager  said  the  Company 
gave  him  a  salary  of  £1,200  a  year.  He  told  the 
captain  it  was  very  hard  lines  on  him,  but  it  showed 
how  fatal  it  was  to  denounce  a  rich  discovery  and 
apply  for  a  concession,  until  he  was  certain  of  being 
able  to  comply  with  the  mining  laws.  The  captain 
was  so  disappointed  and  grieved  at  his  loss  that  he 
immediately  went  on  a  shooting  trip  into  the  forest, 
where  he  got  malarial  fever  and  died. 

A  similar  thing  happened  to  me  once.  One 
year  I  bought  two  good  saddle  mules,  hired  some 
cargo  animals,  two  men  and  a  boy,  and  went 
shooting  guanacos,  and  vicunas,  and  looking  for 
old  mines  in  the  Cordilleras.  I  was  away  for  four 
months,  and  during  this  time  I  came  across  a  good 
many  Indians  who  lived  there  with  their  sheep  and 
llamas  far  away  from  any  town,  and  in  some  cases 
miles  from  the  nearest  neighbour,  and  they  showed 
me  many  old  gold  and  silver  mines  and  one  copper 
mine.  I  made  a  note  of  them  all,  and  took  samples 
from  each  one.  On  returning  to  civilization,  I 
denounced  one,  not  the  best,  but  a  good  mine,  paid 
the  dues,  and  exactly  a  year  afterwards  forfeited 
the  property  through  not  complying  with  the  law 
respecting  labour.  The  man  who  re-denounced  it 
put  on  forty  men  for  six  months,  and  sold  it  to  a 


212        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

Company  for  £7,000.  Personally  I  think  the 
mining  law  respecting  the  proper  working  of  con- 
cessions a  very  good  one  and  most  fair.  You  should 
always  be  careful  not  to  denounce  unless  you  know 
you  are  going  to  derive  benefit  by  doing  so.  There 
are  many  people  who  are  quite  ready  to  reap  the 
profits  of  any  rich  find,  but  who  would  never  dream 
of  taking  the  trouble,  and  going  through  the  rough 
preliminary  work  of  finding  them. 

The  second  instance  I  am  going  to  relate  refers 
to  a  great  silver  mine  in  Bolivia,  which  we  will  call 
San  Carlos,  and  which  was  worked  by  the  Jesuits 
and  subsequently  lost  sight  of  for  many  years  when 
they  left  Peru.  In  this  case  there  were  two 
partners  concerned,  both  of  whom  I  know  per- 
sonally ;  the  one  was  a  rich  man  who  found  all  the 
money  for  expenses,  and  the  other  a  well  known 
mining  engineer,  who  did  the  rough  part  of  the 
work,  and  went  to  locate  the  lost  mine.  After 
two  years  among  the  Indians  they  showed  him  the 
place,  and  he  was  guided  there  by  two  Indian  girls. 
The  mine  was  opened  out  and  proved  to  be  so  rich 
in  silver  that  in  a  few  years  the  two  men  were  worth 
half  a  million  sterling  and  over.  This  mine  is  still 
in  work,  and  still  belongs  to  the  finders,  whom  we 
will  call  Don  Alfredo  and  Don  Jorge.  Don  Jorge 
died,  and  left  his  share  to  his  eldest  son,  who  has 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  218 

extensive  properties  at  home  and  in  Bolivia,  is  a 
good  sportsman,  and  divides  his  time  betw^een  Eng- 
land and  Bolivia  and  Chili.  The  other  partner  is 
still  alive  and  enjoys  the  income  derived  from  his 
half  share.  Many  workmen  are  employed  on  this 
property,  and  much  expensive  machinery  has  been 
erected.  In  this  case  no  one  received  any  benefit 
except  the  discoverers. 

The  third  case  was  that  of  a  gentleman  whom  we 
will  call  Mr.  Clarke  from  San  Francisco.  He  got 
hold  of  some  documents  relating  to  an  old  Jesuit 
mine,  which  we  will  call  San  Martin,  and  which 
they  had  worked  till  they  left  Peru.  There  were 
a  lot  of  silver  bars  ready  for  shipment,  supposed  to 
be  buried  in  this  mine,  and  he  started  off  with  the 
documents  to  locate  the  place.  He  found  nothing 
but  a  big  high  hill ;  the  place  to  all  appearances  had 
been  covered  over  by  a  slide  of  earth  and  stones 
caused  by  the  earthquake  shocks  of  1842  and  1867. 
However,  he  began  the  work  of  uncovering  this 
big  mound,  with  the  help  of  two  men  and  a  boy. 
Clarke  had  a  few  thousand  pounds  to  start  with, 
and  after  working  away  for  fourteen  years  with  a 
few  men,  never  more  than  five  and  sometimes  not 
so  many,  and  being  convinced  he  was  on  the  right 
spot,  he  went  to  the  States  to  see  his  brother,  who 
had  done  pretty  well  with  his  horses  in   South 


214        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


I 


America,  and  try  and  persuade  him  to  help.  His 
brother,  however,  did  not  beUeve  in  this  old  mine 
hunt  and  refused  to  stand  in.  But  Clarke  found 
another  man,  a  manager  of  a  big  store,  who  thought 
he  was  on  the  spot  right  enough,  and  offered  ETm 
£40  a  month  of  his  £60  monthly  pay,  to  enable  him 
to  employ  more  labour.  In  two  years'  time  he 
removed  the  big  mound  of  hill  and  found  the  mine. 
Six  months  afterwards  the  bank  shipped  on 
Clarke's  account  silver  bars  worth  £400,000.  He 
gave  his  friend  £3,000  in  cash,  and  £1,500  a  year 
for  life,  and  continued  the  working  of  the  mine, 
which  proved  a  valuable  one,  making  his  friend 
manager  with  an  additional  salary  of  £1,500  a  year. 
Clarke  died  in  London  a  few  years  ago,  leaving 
£2,000,000. 

Upper  Peru,  now  called  Bolivia,  was  always  con- 
sidered by  the  Incas  as  the  richest  part  of  the 
Empire.  The  Jesuits  came  to  the  country  some 
years  before  the  last  Inca  Chief  died,  and  found  and 
continued  to  work  many  of  the  richest  gold  and 
silver  mines  belonging  to  the  Incas,  prospecting 
and  exploring  the  Andes  and  the  tropical  rivers  all 
the  time  they  were  in  Peru.  They  thought  so 
much  of  Upper  Peru  for  its  great  mineral  wealth 
that  they  actually  plotted  a  revolution  against  the 
Government,  their  idea  being  to  form  a  republic  of 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  215 

their  own  in  the  country  that  is  now  Bolivia.  It 
was  for  this  reason  that  the  Government  of  Lima, 
on  discovering  this  plot,  expelled  them  from  the 
country. 

The  Jesuits  never  worked  for  long  at  a  mine  that 
was  not  a  good  one,  and  in  prospecting  for  old 
mines  the  good  can  always  be  told  from  the  bad 
by  the  way  they  have  been  worked.  There  are 
many  fabulously  wealthy  mines  which  have  been 
lying  idle  since  their  times,  and  up  to  the  present 
have  never  been  denounced.  I  personally  know 
of  several,  gold,  silver,  copper,  lapis  lazuli,  quick- 
silver and  others.  I  have  a  sample  of  copper  out 
of  a  lode  six  feet  wide  taken  from  one  of  these  old 
mines,  which  gives  fifty-nine  per  cent  of  copper 
and  is  still  undenounced.  Mining  companies, 
instead  of  sending  men  to  prospect  for  new  fields, 
would  do  well  to  send  and  look  for  some  of  these 
abandoned  Jesuit  mines. 

In  the  provinces  of  San  Juan  and  Rioja  in  the 
Argentine  and  in  Bolivia  I  have  seen  many  so  rich 
that  the  lodes  are  actually  in  sight  and  no  dump 
is  to  be  seen.  The  famous  silver  mines  of  Potosi, 
to  which  I  have  already  referred,  gave  in  three  hun- 
dred years  a  total  value  of  £340,000,000  worth  of 
silver,  and  is  still  giving  £40  to  £50,000  worth  a 
year.       The  Cerro  Potosi  is   15,400ft.  high,  the 


216        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


1 


town  13,200ft.,  and  the  atmosphere  is  so  rarified 
that  many  children  die  soon  after  birth.  The  In- 
dians in  this  district  eat  clay  dumplings  which  they 
put  in  their  stew.  Then  there  are  the  silver  mines 
of  Muanchaca,^  13,200ft.  high,  which  exported 
8,000,000ozs.  of  silver  annually  between  1892  and 
1897,  till  the  lower  workings  of  the  Pulaca^o  mine 
were  flooded  with  water. 

The  silver  mines  of  Oruro  for  years  yielded 
1,700,000  ozs.  a  year,  Colguechaca  1,500,000,  and 
Guadaloupe,  700,000.  The  most  valuable  tin 
mines  are  those  on  the  Huanuni  near  Oruro  ;  there 
are  others  at  Inquisivi,  Tres  Cruces  (I),  Arque,  and 
other  places.  I  discovered  one  at  the  Tres  Cruces 
that  was  afterwards  taken  up  and  sold  for  £19,000. 
The  tin  mines  of  Bolivia  are  very  rich,  and  the 
higher  altitudes  seem  to  yield  a  bigger  percentage 
than  the  lower,  and  the  workings  are  more 
accessible.  I  once  located  a  tin  property  that  gave 
at  13,000ft.  9  per  cent,  15  per  cent  at  14,000ft., 
25  per  cent  at  15,000ft.,  and  at  16,000ft.  as  much 
as  60  per  cent,  according  to  samples  essayed  at 
Lima.  The  same  thing  happens  in  the  case  of  gold, 
silver,  and  copper;  the  richest  mines  are  often 
found  in  the  most  inaccessible  places. 

Prospecting  for  old  mines  is  a  rough  life,  but 
when  your  journeys  take  you  along  the  Cordilleras 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  217 

you  are  sure  of  a  healthy  and  enjoyable  time  in  an 
exhilarating  climate.  You  have  bright  sunshine 
all  day  and  freezing  cold  at  night.  There  is  a  fair 
amount  of  sport  to  be  had  on  these  trips,  and  it  is 
advisable  to  take  both  gun  and  rifle.  For  the  gun 
there  are  geese,  duck,  martinettes,  partridges, 
woodcock,  and  snipe;  and  for  the  rifle  you  get 
jaguar,  bear,  wild  cattle,  puma,  vicuna,  deer, 
guanaco,  and  the  white-collared  condor,  the  biggest 
bird  that  flies.  On  several  occasions  when  I  was 
far  away  from  any  kind  of  civilization,  and  there 
was  no  habitation  in  sight  so  far  as  the  eye  could 
see,  vicunas  have  remained  staring  at  me,  and 
allowed  me  to  get  up  quite  close  to  them  before 
galloping  off.  I  remember  once  suddenly  coming 
across  a  herd  of  eleven  vicunas,  which  stood  up  in 
a  line  not  more  than  fifty  to  seventy  yards  off,  and 
remained  stationary  for  quite  two  minutes ;  they 
were  wondering  I  suppose  what  object  it  was  that 
suddenly  appeared  on  a  big  black  mule.  They 
looked  so  graceful  that  I  did  not  disturb  them  and 
never  fired  at  all.  I  have  shot  them  for  their  pelts 
when  the  Indians  have  told  me  the  fur  is  at  its  best, 
and  on  two  occasions  for  meat  when  we  ran  short ; 
their  flesh  is  not  very  nice  to  eat,  but  not  quite  so 
nasty  as  llama.  I  managed  also  to  get  three  puma 
on  these  prospecting  trips ;  one  was  a  pretty  good 


218        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

one  measuring  7ft.  Tins,  when  green,  another  was 
7ft.  2ins.  and  the  third  6ft.  7ins. 

While  on  one  of  these  trips  to  locate  silver  mines 
and  bring  back  samples  for  a  German  firm,  I  was 
travelling  one  day  with  fourteen  cargo  mules,  two 
saddle  mules,  bell  mare  and  horse,  and  happened 
to  be  riding  along  with  a  gun  in  front  about  half- 
way up  the  forest,  with  my  boy  walking  behind 
carrying  the  rifle,  when  I  heard  some  poujil.  I 
got  off  the  mule  to  get  a  stalking  shot,  and  on 
turning  the  corner  just  round  the  bend  came  on  a 
magnificent  jaguar,  lying  down  sunning  himself  on 
a  green  bank  not  twenty  yards  off.  I  was  much 
relieved  when  he  got  up  and  trotted  quietly  away 
into  the  jungle.  These  beasts  will  never  attack  a 
man  in  daylight  unless  they  are  hungry  or  angry. 
The  natives  in  the  interior  of  Bolivia  near  Santa 
Cruz  hunt  them  with  the  spear,  rifle,  and  dogs,  when 
they  can  locate  them  in  the  savannas  or  grass 
plains,  and  the  Government  pay  them  £2  10s.  for 
each  skull,  as  they  are  known  to  be  dangerous  man- 
eaters.  But  they  only  go  after  men  when  they  get 
too  old  and  inactive  to  catch  wild  cattle,  deer  and 
pigs.  It  is  also  said  that  once  they  have  tasted 
human  blood  they  prefer  it  to  any  other  kind  of 
food. 

In  spite  of  all  the  trouble  I  had  taken,  I  had 


THE  THIRD  ATTEMPT  219 

eventually  to  give  up  the  search  for  the  treasure  on 
the  Caballo  Cunco  Hill.  Neither  SoHs  Mendizabal 
nor  I  could  get  the  necessary  number  of  men  to 
continue  the  work  satisfactorily,  and  we  tried 
several  times  to  form  a  small  company  from  Chili 
to  go  into  the  work,  and  also  to  uncover  the  many 
smaller  tapadas  that  still  remain  intact  near  the 
convent  and  the  church,  but  without  success. 
Colonel  TroUope,  of  Lord's  Castle,  Barbados, 
who  was  interested  in  the  project  and  promised  me 
the  money  to  take  over  fifty  men  from  Barbados 
in  1912,  unfortunately  died  before  this  could  be 
done.  A  well  known  mining  engineer  came  all  the 
way  from  Tacna  at  my  suggestion  to  look  at  my 
handiwork,  and  see  whether  he  thought  what  was 
being  uncovered  was  the  work  of  man  or  nature; 
I  have  his  report  in  which  he  forms  the  same  idea 
as  I  do. 

Now  what  has  this  big  cave  been  dug  out  of  the 
mountain  side  for,  and  why  has  it  been  covered 
over  with  so  much  care?  Not  for  any  amusement, 
I  am  sure.  The  only  thing  I  know  for  certain  is 
that  Jose  Ampuera  found  a  big  gold  bell  there, 
sixty  years  ago,  but  ceased  excavating  because  one 
of  his  sons  was  killed  by  a  piece  of  rock.  Then 
there  is  the  case  of  the  two  mule  men,  who  un- 
covered one  of  the  numerous  smaller  tapadas,  and 

i6 


220        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

in  eight  days  took  out  £1,500  worth  of  treasure. 
I  still  have  hopes  of  being  able  to  bring, 
say,  forty  men  from  the  West  Indies  for  each  dry 
season,  May  to  September,  and  finish  the  job.  It 
might  or  it  might  not  be  a  success ;  who  can  tell  ? 


CHAPTER  X 

A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  AND  HOW  TO  TRAVEL 
IN  THOSE  PARTS 

IT  may  be  of  use  to  intending  travellers  in 
Bolivia  to  say  a  few  words  in  conclusion, 
first  about  the  country  in  general,  and  then 
about  the  equipment  that  is  necessary  for 
such  journeys  as  I  have  described. 

Bolivia  may  be  divided  into  four  zones. 
First :  Peaks  and  mountains  above  the  line  of 
perpetual  snow. 

Second  :  The  great  plateau  between  the  heights 
of  8,000ft.  and  14,000ft.  At  this  altitude  the  at- 
mosphere is  the  purest  in  the  world;  people  con- 
sequently live  to  a  great  age.  Besides  the  old 
men  I  have  already  mentioned,  another  old  man 
of  the  Andes  is  fresh  in  my  memory.  A  few  years 
ago  while  I  was  looking  for  old  abandoned  mines 
in  the  most  out  of  the  way  parts  of  the  Cordilleras, 
travelling  very  often  over  the  same  paths  as  the 


222        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 


1 


Incas  had  used,  I  was  told  of  an  old  Chilian  patri- 
arch, who  had  at  one  time  been  wealthy,  but  had 
a  lot  of  his  property  confiscated  by  the  Govern- 
ment, after  the  revolution  of  Balmaceda's  time,  as 
he  had  backed  the  wrong  horse.      He  was  still 
pretty  well  off,  and  retired  to  the  Cordilleras  and 
built  himself  a  fine  stone  house  and  stables,  in  a 
beautiful  fertile  valley  about  9,000ft.  above  the  sea. 
I  stayed  with  him  and  his  wife  for  three  days.     He 
told  me  he  was  97,  and  his  wife  82.     She  looked 
older  and  more  fragile  than  he  did.     He  told  me 
that  a  few  leagues  off  there  lived  a  wealthy  old 
Argentine,  called  Don  Antonio,  who  had  lived  in 
the  Andes  all  his  life,  was  127  years  old,  and  had 
married  his  fifth  wife.     I  went  to  visit  him,  and 
was  received  by  a  pretty  woman,  whom  I  asked 
whether  I  could  see  Don  Antonio.     "  He  will  be 
sorry  he  missed  you,"  she  said.     '*  He  has  ridden 
to  San  Juan  "  (which  was  eight  days  off  by  mule- 
back),  ''  and  will  only  be  back  next  week."     She 
very  kindly  put  me  up  for  the  night,  and  told  me 
she  was  the  old  man's  fifth  wife,  and  had  been 
married  ten  years,  and  was  now  twenty-seven  years 
old. 

This  part  of  Bolivia  is  the  home  of  the  beautiful 
chinchilla  fur.  The  chinchilla  is  only  found  in 
certain  parts  of  the  Andes,  and  lives  at  15,000ft. 


j  A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  228 

to  16,000ft.  There  are  three  classes,  the  Chin- 
chilla real,  the  Moskat  and  the  Raton;  the  first 
is  by  far  the  best,  but  the  second  is  not  bad,  and 
looks  beautiful  when  seen  by  itself,  but  when  seen 
side  by  side  with  the  first  looks  quite  common. 

When  wealthy  merchants  send  some  one  to  buy 
up  these  skins  from  the  Indians,  they  must  take 
care  to  pick  out  a  man  who  knows  the  difference 
between  the  three  classes  of  skins.  I  knew  a  big 
firm  once  that  sent  the  wrong  man  and  lost  heavily 
over  the  buying  up  of  these  rare  skins ;  the  Indians 
had  sold  him  a  lot  of  the  second  class  skins  (the 
Moskat)  as  the  Chinchilla  real.  But  their  repre- 
sentative had  never  been  further  than  the  railway 
train  could  take  him,  did  not  know  Spanish,  and 
had  never  done  any  travelling  with  mules ;  in  fact, 
he  was  an  absolute  greenhorn  at  the  work,  and  got 
badly  swindled.  On  the  other  hand,  I  met  a  man 
who  had  been  in  the  mountains  for  six  months, 
and  had  bought  a  good  lot  of  skins  from  the 
hunters  for  a  New  York  firm,  and  sold  them  at  a 
profit  of  £8,300;  he  got  1,800  of  the  Chinchilla 
real  and  1,700  of  the  second  class.  Once  when  I 
was  on  a  mine-hunting  job  far  away  from  any  town, 
I  bought  several  of  the  Chinchilla  real  skins  for 
£l  10s.  each  and  sold  them  at  £50  per  dozen,  and 
at  the  same  time  I  bought  some  second  class  for 


224        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

2/6  each  and  sold  them  at  £6  per  dozen.  I  could 
have  bought  many  more,  but  had  not  the  cash 
with  me. 

Third  zone  :  Semi  tropical  valleys  4,000ft.  to 
8,000ft.,  in  my  opinion  the  finest  climate  in  the 
world.  Not  too  warm  in  the  daytime  and  cool  at 
nights.  All  kinds  of  fruit  grow  at  these  altitudes, 
and  there  is  plenty  of  shooting  of  different  varieties 
to  be  had  without  much  trouble. 

Fourth  zone :  Low  lying  lands  of  the  Beni, 
Madeiro,  Mamore,  Tipuani,  Challana  and  other 
tributaries  of  the  Amazon,  and  lands  sloping  to 
the  River  Paraguay.  This  is  a  great  rubber 
country  in  the  interior ;  very  beautiful  and  very 
unhealthy.  To  get  to  it  you  have  to  cross  the 
highest  ranges  of  the  Andes.  There  is  plenty  of 
game,  but  it  is  very  hard  to  get  at.  In  this  zone 
you  find  some  of  the  rarest  and  most  beautiful 
orchids  known,  as  well  as  gorgeous  butterflies, 
lovely  creepers  and  tropical  plants,  and  flowers  in 
wild  profusion. 

The  Mamore  district  is  full  of  rubber  trees  of 
the  best  class.  It  is  calculated  that  six  hundred 
trees  give  30  to  40  arobas  of  rubber  during  the  first 
month ;  in  the  second  month  the  trees  give  less, 
and  in  the  third  less  still,  so  that  a  good  seringuero 
must  know  when  and  how  to  tap.     In  wet  weather 


A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  225 

the  trees  give  more  latex,  but  the  quality  is  not  so 
good,  as  water  mixes  with  it.  Only  the  bark  must 
be  tapped,  and  there  is  a  fine  of  £50  for  cutting 
down  a  tree.  Several  methods  are  employed  for 
coagulating  the  latex.  Here  is  one  of  them.  The 
latex  is  poured  into  a  wooden  bowl  two  feet  long, 
half  a  foot  wide,  and  a  foot  and  a  half  deep,  and  a 
solution  of  alum  and  hot  water  is  poured  on  it, 
causing  coagulation.  In  order  to  compress  the 
latex,  a  heavy  wooden  bar  is  inserted  into  the 
cavity  of  a  tree,  and  heavy  logs  of  wood,  or  big 
stones  are  suspended  at  the  end.  One  night  is 
suflScient  for  the  rubber  to  become  white.  This 
method  was  discovered  by  Strauss.  Another 
method,  supposed  to  be  the  best,  is  to  place  the 
latex  near  a  fire,  and  stir  it  round  continuously 
with  a  stick ;  this  makes  it  remain  a  dark  brown, 
nearly  black.  For  every  estrada  the  Bolivian 
Government  charge  a  rent  of  32/-  yearly,  payable 
in  advance,  half  yearly.  If  any  half  yearly  pay- 
ment is  not  paid,  the  concession  may  be  confiscated 
and  taken  up  by  anybody  else.  An  estrada 
measures  150  by  150  metres,  and  contains  any- 
thing from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  trees.  A 
good  rubber  property  means  a  thousand  estradas 
or  more.  Trees  are  supposed  to  be  at  their  best 
from  twenty  to  one  hundred  years  old ;  after  fifty 


226        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

years  they  do  not  give  so  much  latex,  and  after 
one  hundred  they  give  still  less.  Most  of  the 
seringueras  are  in  the  hands  of  rich  merchants,  who 
have  given  them  goods  up  to  the  value  of  twenty 
pounds,  and  even  over  one  hundred  pounds  or 
more  on  credit ;  consequently,  the  picker  is  usually 
in  the  debt  of  the  merchant.  The  life  is  a  hard 
and  unhealthy  one.  Some  rubber  experts  say  that 
plantation  rubber  will  go  back  after  twenty-five 
years,  and  will  not  contain  the  same  degree  of 
elasticity  as  the  wild  rubber;  if  that  is  so,  it  will 
be  a  heavy  blow  for  the  plantations.  I  am  not  in 
a  position  to  say  either  way.  But  it  is  pretty  well 
known  in  Brazil  that  in  San  Paolo  the  rich  Dumont 
Coffee  Estate,  to  satisfy  its  shareholders,  planted 
rubber  at  2,100ft.  Only  the  Ceara  did  at  all  well, 
and  that  gave  very  little  latex ;  at  ten  years  old  the 
rubber  trees  planted  on  this  estate  proved  a  com- 
plete failure. 

The  chief  tribes  of  Indians  in  Bolivia  are  the 
Quichua,  Aymara  and  Guarani.  All  the  principal 
towns  here  have  schools,  doctors,  and  many 
lawyers,  but  very  few  dentists  and  not  many 
undertakers.  Approximately  there  are  in  the 
country  : 


A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  227 


Whites           

250,000 

Half-castes     ... 

500,000 

Tame  Indians 

...     1,000,000 

Savages  or  Untamed 

250,000 

The  people  are  hospitable,  and  the  Indians  are 
quite  easy  to  get  along  with,  if  you  go  the  right 
way  to  work,  though  of  course  there  are  good  and 
bad,  as  there  are  in  most  parts  of  the  world.  The 
dry  season  is  from  April  to  October,  and  the  other 
months  are  wet.  When  it  rains  in  the  forest,  it 
snows  in  the  mountains.  The  limit  of  forest  is 
14,000ft.  and  the  snow  line  16,000. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  short  description  given  in 
this  book  that  Bolivia,  or  Upper  Peru  as  it  was  until 
1805,  was  one  of  the  richest  parts  of  the  Inca  king- 
dom. Many  of  the  remains  of  the  work  done  by 
these  people  can  be  seen  still,  and  some  of  them 
are  kept  in  good  repair,  especially  the  old  roads 
which  they  used.  One  of  their  famous  stone 
bridges  is  still  in  existence  and  kept  in  repair.  In 
Bolivia  you  have  every  sort  of  climate,  from  the 
most  freezing  cold  of  the  Cordilleras  to  the  steamy 
atmosphere  of  the  tropical  forest.  Hundreds  of 
rich  old  mines  still  remain  to  be  re-discovered  in 
the  mountains,  which  are  known  to  many  Indians 
but  to  very  few  whites.  I  suppose  I  know  of  about 
as  many  as  most  people,  all  accessible,  and  most  of 


228        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

them  very  rich.  It  would  pay  any  Companies 
interested  in  silver,  gold,  copper  or  tin  to  send 
some  one  to  locate  some  of  these  old  workings ;  and 
take  samples.  Personally  I  enjoy  those  long  mule 
rides  in  that  healthy  atmosphere,  and  hope  to  go 
again  on  another  trip. 

For  successful  travelling  in  Bolivia,  two  things 
are  necessary — to  be  in  the  best  of  condition  physi- 
cally, and  to  have  the  right  outfit  and  equipment. 

The  following  outfit  is  the  final  result  of  my 
experience  in  what  was  necessary  for  crossing  the 
passes  of  the  Cordilleras  and  traversing  the  steamy 
tropical  forests. 

Shoes  for  all  your  animals  and  nails,  rasp  and 
pairing  knife. 

A  good  roomy  native  saddle,  not  a  heavy  one,  for 
your  mule,  and  a  light  roomy  semi-military  saddle 
for  your  horse. 

A  good  pair  of  blunt  spurs. 

As  many  strong  raw  hide  nets  as  required  for  the 
cargo. 

Plenty  of  blankets,  thick  and  thin. 

A  big  canvas  saddle  cloth  for  the  back  of  each 
animal. 

(The  blankets  go  on  top  and  serve  the  double 
purpose  of  preventing  the  animals  backs  from 
getting  sore,  and  keeping  the  men  warm  at  night.) 


A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  229 

A  piece  of  canvas  well  oiled  and  dried  to  go  over 
each  cargo. 

Two  tents — one  for  yourself  and  the  other  for 
the  boys. 

Two  buckets,  two  pots  with  iron  legs  like  Kafir 
pots,  one  big  one  and  one  little  one. 

A  good  big  kettle  and  a  small  one. 

A  Collins'  axe,  and  a  cutlass  of  the  same  make. 

Plenty  of  rope  of  Llama  wool  and  a  halter  of  the 
same  for  each  animal. 

A  thick  long  horsehair  rope  to  put  round  your 
tents  to  keep  away  snakes. 

Some  cowhide  boxes  for  your  clothes. 

Thick  socks  or  stockings  made  by  the  Indians. 
(These  can  be  bought  at  the  market  in  La  Paz  or 
Oruro — English  socks  are  no  good). 

A  good  pair  of  shooting  boots. 

Several  pairs  of  alpagatas. 

Frying  pan. 

Pair  of  scales. 

Tea  pot. 

Coffee  pot. 

Plates  and  cups  of  enamel  ware. 

A  folding  canvas  catre  for  yourself. 

A  few  loose  boards  for  nailing  on  to  thick 
branches  of  trees  for  a  floor  to  your  tent  is  advisable. 

A  pick  and  spade. 


280        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

A  good  rifle  (personally  I  have  mostly  used  a 
fine  double  barrel  Holland  and  Holland  sixteen 
bore,  given  me  by  my  father,  with  very  good 
results). 

A  good  breach  loader. 

Metal  cartridges. 

A  big  six  shooter. 

A  Kodak. 

Compass. 

Metrometer. 

Hexemeter. 

Aneroid  to  mark  up  to  20,000ft. 

Thermometer. 

Canvas  folding  bath. 

Baking  powder. 

Flour. 

Sterilized  milk. 

Small  medicine  box. 

Rum  and  whisky. 

Old  port  and  old  Madeira. 

Plenty  of  coca  leaves  for  barter  and  to  give  away. 

Liebig's  extract. 

Some  tools ;  nails  and  screws. 

Two  or  three  horn  lanterns. 

Plenty  of  soap. 

Each  mule  should  carry  half  a  challona,  which 
you  can  buy  off  the  Indians  living  on  the  slopes  of 
the  Cordilleras. 


A  NOTE  ON  BOLIVIA  281 

Mackintosh. 

Some  sugar  and  rice,  sufficient  for  the  trip. 

Tinned  meats  to  be  used  when  wanted ;  at  once 
when  opened  taken  out  of  the  tin  and  not  kept  after 
using. 

A  big  mosquito  net,  and  a  small  one,  to  be  used 
as  occasion  may  require. 

Fifty  pounds  of  ships  biscuits. 

Coffee,  tea,  cocoa. 

A  small  basket  with  a  naptha  stove,  small  kettle, 
pot  pan,  etc.,  to  be  used  when  required  in  your 
tent. 

A  vicuna  wool  mask  and  night  cap  of  the  same 
material. 

A  good  pair  of  sheepskin  or  bearskin  gauntlets. 

Two  pairs  of  wind  and  sun  glasses. 

Pith  helmet. 

Panama  hat  and  cap. 

Crowbar  and  drill. 

Miner's  hammer  and  dynamite. 

Gold  pan  and  quicksilver. 

Big  carriage  umbrella. 

Thick  poncho  (rug  with  a  hole  cut  in  the  middle). 

Camp  stool. 

Seat  stick,  pulley  and  tackle. 

Nail  extractor. 

Matches,  etc. 


232        ADVENTURES  IN  BOLIVIA 

No.  5  is  the  best  all  round  shot  to  have  your 
cartridges  loaded  with ;  but  it  is  as  well  to  have  an 
odd  few  charged  with  buck  shot  as  well. 
Three  or  four  scout  watches,  and 
Anything  else  you  think  you  need. 


THE  END 


.^ 


OVERDUE. 


.1 


rec:d_ld- 

-Mat'SOGE 


LD  2 


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re  \o^^.- 


Lmlm^^^^^L'^miES 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


